and behold, joy and gladness, killing oxen and slaughtering sheep, eating flesh and drinking wine. “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”
There's a version of denial that looks like celebration. Isaiah describes a city under siege, actual danger closing in, and its people responding not with alarm but with a party — killing animals, pouring wine, telling themselves let's eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. It's not peace. It's a shrug dressed up as festivity, a refusal to look directly at what's coming.
That line has outlived the siege it was written about because the impulse behind it is so recognizable. When something serious is on the horizon, plenty of people speed up the distractions instead of slowing down to face it. Isaiah isn't condemning joy itself here — he's naming the difference between real joy and a loud attempt to drown out a warning.
If you've noticed yourself reaching for noise and distraction whenever something uncomfortable gets close, this verse isn't judgment so much as recognition. It names a pattern most people know from the inside.
If you can recognize the difference between real joy and noise meant to drown something out, it's worth asking which one you've been reaching for lately.
A short video on this is coming soon — for now, read on.