Our Savior Lutheran Church
Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod

News for 3/13/2025

Memorial Service for Floyd Schmidt

There will be a service on March 21st at 1pm at Our Savior for Floyd Schmidt, husband of Betty Schmidt. The family has invited you to a luncheon following the service at the Perry Town Hall.

Continued Study of Isaiah

Isaiah 5:8-30

8 Woe to you who join house to house,

who connect field to field, until there is no room left,

except room for you alone to live in the middle of the land!

9 The Lord of Armies announces this in my hearing:

I swear that many houses will be deserted.

Even the large and beautiful houses will be unoccupied.

10 Then ten acres of vineyard will yield only six gallons of wine,

and six bushels of seed will yield less than a bushel.

11 Woe to those who rise up early in the morning to chase after beer,

who stay up late into the night until wine inflames them.

12 Harp, lyre, drum, flute, and wine are at their drinking parties,

but they have no regard for the work of the Lord,

nor have they paid attention to what his hands are doing.

13 This is why my people go into captivity—lack of knowledge.

Their dignitaries starve to death,

and the whole crowd is parched with thirst.

14 That is why the grave has increased its appetite,

and its mouth is wide open.

Their splendor and their noisy crowds, their loud revelry,

and their celebration will go down into the grave.

15 So mankind is humbled,

man is brought low,

and the eyes of the arrogant are brought low,

16 but the Lord of Armies is exalted by justice,

and God, the Holy One, reveals his holiness by righteousness.

17 Then lambs will graze there as their pasture,

and aliens will eat among the ruins of the rich.

18 Woe to those who drag their guilt behind them with cords of lies

and their wickedness with cart ropes.

19 They say, “Let him hurry, let him speed up his work,

so that we may see it,

and let the plan of the Holy One of Israel draw near.

Let it come, so that we may know it!”

20 Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil,

who substitute darkness for light, and light for darkness,

who substitute bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes

and clever in their own sight!

22 Woe to those who are champions at drinking wine

and heroes at mixing drinks,

23 who acquit the guilty for a bribe,

but deny justice for the innocent!

24 Therefore, as the flames of a fire devour stubble,

and as dry grass sinks down into the flames,

in the same way their roots will rot,

and their blossoms will dry up like dust,

because they have rejected the law of the Lord of Armies,

and they have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

25 Therefore, the Lord’s anger burns against his people,

and he has stretched out his hand against them and has struck them.

The mountains tremble,

and their dead bodies will lie like garbage in the middle of the streets.

In spite of all this, his anger is not turned away,

and his hand is still stretched out, ready to strike.

26 He will raise a signal flag for the nations from far away,

and he will whistle for them to come from the end of the earth.

Watch, they will come quickly and swiftly.

27 No one among them will be weary or stumble.

No one will slumber or sleep.

The belt around their waist will not be unbuckled.

The straps of their sandals will not be broken.

28 Their arrows are sharp,

and all their bows bent.

Their horses’ hoofs will be like flint,

and their wheels like a whirlwind.

29 Their roar will sound like a lioness.

They will roar like young lions.

Yes, they will growl.

They will seize their prey and carry it off,

and there will be no one to rescue anyone from them.

30 In that day the roar against them will be like the roaring of the sea.

If anyone looks at the land, he sees only darkness and distress.

The light is darkened by clouds.

Pastor’s Comment

In the first part of Chapter 5, God had used an allegory to explain his charge against his people. In the second half the imagery falls away and the bad vineyard is revealed in the specific sins of the people of Israel. There was greed, drunkenness, and even blaspheming the Word (vs 20) running rampant. The punishment will come in the form of foreign nations coming to wage war against Israel. We should hear God’s voice for us today concerning the seriousness of sins such as drunkenness and greed, which are called good and beneficial by so many. God warns us too that if we disdain his Word the same types of woes will fall upon us.

Luther’s Comment

Vs 11

What would the prophet have said to the Germans, for whom natural capacity is insufficient to drain so much drink? Theirs are not feasts of joy but feasts of pigs. It is all right to eat and to drink, but to cultivate drunkenness is evil. So also music is a gift of God. Elisha says: “Bring me a minstrel, etc.”… Certainly if you make use of music as David did, you will not sin. The work of the Lord is that whatever He commands be done, namely, to believe and to worship God and to serve one’s neighbor; or, that there be punishment, which is inflicted on the ungodly, and reward, which is given to the godly.

Vs 30 The light is darkened by clouds.

Darkness. The terror and commotion of death. The Jews will be seeking caves in the fields in which to hide themselves and will not find them. But the shadow of death will be everywhere. The sun and moon appear to turn black, a symbol of desperation. They have not been able to call upon God. These things have been written down also for us, if we in like manner blaspheme the Word.