A Study of Isaiah: Lesson # 3

Review:

1. Week 1: We looked at the prophet Isaiah and discussed some details about him. He prophesied to the the southern kingdom of Judah and was what is called a pre-exilic prophet. His prophecy was one of judgement. We looked at the purpose of this study, and that is to bring us to new ground in our awareness of who God is. One writer, James MacDonald, whom I am using as a reference says that we should be "Gripped by the Greatness of God." This is the purpose of this study. For us to become gripped by who God is. As we pointed out in the first weeks study, if we will draw closer to God we will see changes in our life (Hosea 6:3, James 4:8, and Jeremiah 29:13 and see what God says).



2. Week 2: We looked at the most important characteristic of God, and that is His Holiness. We discussed how us becoming fully aware of God's holiness will drive us to understand what God meant when He said that we are to be holy (1 Peter 1:16). An awareness of God's holiness reveals to us our need for salvation and just as it did with the prophet Isaiah in Chapter 6, it drives us to repentance. We closed this session with the question, "What is it in your life right now that needs to be dealt with so that you can draw closer to God?"

New Study:

• Prophets of the OT: The first thing that I want to do is to give just a little more information on the prophets. An understanding of them and who they were and what they did is important in helping us understand who Jesus was and what He did. In Hebrews chapter one it tells us that Jesus was similar to them but also very different. Hebrews 1:1-2 (KJV) 1 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, 2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; God spoke in the past "times" spoke to His people through these prophets and He did it in specific ways or "manners." Today God speaks to us, His people, directly through His Son Jesus Christ. The prophets are organized in various ways. One way is that some are called major and some minor. This does not mean that some are more important than others. The major prophets are just longer than those called minor. Another way that the prophets are organized are relative to the Babylonian Exile.

Chronological Order of the Prophets
1. Prophets Before the Exile (To Nineveh: Jonah, 862 B.C.) (To the 10 tribes "Israel": Amos, 787 B.C.; Hosea, 785-725 B.C.; Obadiah, 887 B.C.; Joel, 800 B.C. ) (To Judah: Isaiah, 760-698 B.C.; Micah, 750-710 B.C.; Nahum, 713 B.C.; Habakkuk, 626 B.C.; Zephaniah, 630 B.C.

2. Prophets During the Exile (Ezekiel, 595-574 B.C.) (Daniel, 607-534 B.C. )

3. Prophets After the Exile (Haggai, 520 B.C.) (Zechariah, 520-518 B.C.) (Malachi, 397 B.C.)

• Last week we looked at Isaiah 6. This week we want to consider what is considered to be the Judgement section of Isaiah, chapters 1 - 39. The Book of Isaiah is generally divided into to large sections. The first being Chapters 1-39, and the second the remainder of the book. I need for you to plan on reading this first section before next Sunday. It looks long but if you plan you can just read a few chapters each day, or you can get a cup of coffee and have a long season with the Lord in His word. What I have found is that it is better to first read the whole book to find the overall message, before breaking it into smaller sections for detailed messages. So over the next two weeks we will read the entire book. For those of you reading through the Bible, you are already ahead.



• What do we want to find about God in this section on Judgement? Let's take it a step at a time and see what we can learn.

1. First, what do we find that God accuses the nation of breaking that results in the judgement? 1:2-9



2. How does God describe what He sees as being the status of their awareness of Him? 1:2-3



3. What had already happened to the nation as a result of what God had accused them of doing? 1:4-9



4. What was God rejecting that the nation would have considered central to their relationship with Him? 1:10-17



5. Was God's judgement imminent or does God give them opportunity to change? 1:18-20



6. Why does God promise restoration and to whom is it promised? 1:21-31


7. What is the prophecy being made in 2:1-4:6 and when will it happen?


8. The house of Judah is exhorted by the prophet to do what? 2:5


9. What does God promise? 4:2-6


10. What do we learn about Judah (the vineyard) and its relationship to God in 5:1-7


11. How will God's judgement be fulfilled? 5:8-30


12. Judgements: (7:1-12:6)

• What is the story of Ahaz? (7:1-25)


• Who is being brought to judgement and who is being used as an instrument of judgement in 8:1-10:34


• Who and when is 11:1-12:6 about?

13. Give two of the judgements of the nations given in 13:1-23:18.

14. What do we find about the condition of Israel in the end? 24:1-27:13

15. What happens to the people of God in the end? 33:1-24

16. Who is blessed and who is cursed? 34:1-35:10

17. What is the story of Hezekiah? 36:1-39:8

Question: From the reading of this week, what do we learn about the judgement of God? What causes it to happen and where does it usually fall?