A Study of Isaiah: Session 5

Review:

Week 1: We looked at the prophet Isaiah and discussed some details about him. He prophesied to the southern kingdom of Judah and was what is called a pre-exilic prophet. His prophecy was one of judgment. 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. 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).

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?"

Week 3: We started a study of the first 39 chapters of Isaiah. We went through the first 10 of the questions below. I have posted a response to the questions we discussed. The overall points that I think we were brought to were: The world of today is much like the world was in the time of Isaiah, with people not even having a thought of God. The church of today is much like the people of Judah, in that they performed their methods of worship but with a mindset that the methods were enough. God looks down on our acts of religion and tells us that He wants none of it.

Week 4:
(PRAYER NEEDS)
We started with our prayer time. The prayer needs shared were very personal. We need to pray that God will help us all in our relationships with our spouse, and that we will be sacrificial in that relationship. Pray that Jason Dean will find work. Pray for Amy as she starts back to school. Pray for the Milligan’s safe return.

(ISAIAH)We started with a discussion of why this prophet is a difficult book to read and understand.
(Writing Style) It was shared that this book has many things that are expressed through literary pictures (metaphors) and this makes it hard at time to understand to what the prophet is making reference.
(Timeframe) It was also discussed that the timeframe of what is being discussed and it applications are hard to discern. The prophet writes not only of the circumstances and occurrences of his time and the near future, but also of times that are decades and centuries into the future, and also times that have even as yet to occur.
(Written to whom?) The writer makes reference, intertwined, to Israel and Judah and sometimes he only makes reference to them by the name of the king giving leadership. The sons of Abraham have been divided for couple of hundred years into the northern kingdom of ten tribes (Israel) and the southern kingdom of two tribes (Judah). The prophet Isaiah spoke to the southern kingdom of Judah, but makes reference to the northern kingdom of Israel. Israel at times is spoken of as the enemy of Judah, which also causes difficulty in understanding.
(What nation?) During the time of the prophecies of this book there are three major shifts in the empire of power in that area of the world. God uses these empires and the changes of power as instruments in the fulfillment of the prophecies. The first is the Assyrian nation. This nation was used of God as the instrument of judgment on the northern kingdom (Israel). During the timeframe of the prophecies made by Isaiah the Assyrians were taken out of power by their parent nation, Babylonia. Assyria had been in power for almost a millennium, and was birthed out of a Babylon that predated the nation that overthrew the Assyrians. This second Babylon was used of God to judge the southern kingdom (Judah) by taking them into exile. When we talk of the exile it is usually in reference to the exile of Judah, not Israel. Not long, relatively, after this New-Babylon comes into power, they are taken out by the Persians under the leadership of Cyrus. Babylon is judged by Cyrus and God uses the Persians to fulfill the prophecy of the return of the nation to the promise land.

As can be seen, this book is full of history. This is why it was important for me to hand out the historical reference of the empires of that time and how they connected to the prophecies of the scripture.
After we looked at the difficulty of this prophet, we started with question 11 below in reference to Ahaz. We really just got started, but looked at a most important point that can be learned from a study of this King and how God worked with him. We looked at 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles to find the historical reference of Ahaz and to find out that he was one of the most ungodly kings of the nation of Judah. Even though this was true God spoke to him, as given in Isaiah 7.

Study:
Below is a listing of questions that we are considering relative to the first section of the book of Isaiah (Chapters 1-30). This week we will be refocusing starting with question eleven. Please read carefully any scripture references on Ahaz and Hezekiah in 2Kings and 2Chronicles and Isaiah. The discussion this week with center on what we can learn about ourselves by looking at how God worked with and through these men.

Questions Previously Considered
What do we want to find about God in this section on Judgment? 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 result in the judgment? 1:2-9. God accuses Israel of having broken her covenant relationship with Him 1:2-9
2. How does God describe what He sees as being the status of their awareness of Him? 1:2-3 Israel, unlike an animal, does not even know who its master is 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 Israel has abandoned the LORD and been flogged by neighboring nations for her disobedience to the covenant 1:4-9
4. What was God rejecting that the nation would have considered central to their relationship with Him? 1:10-17 God rejects the nation's external worship of Him because of her corrupt acts toward the needy 1:10-17
5. Was God's judgment imminent or does God give them opportunity to change? 1:18-20 God exhorts the nation to repent in their actions to find forgiveness and blessing or else to expect to receive judgment 1:18-20.
6. Why does God promise restoration and to whom is it promised? 1:21-31 Because Jerusalem has become overrun with evil God declares that He will bring about a just judgment upon sinners and a gracious restoration upon the city for the sake of the righteous 1:21-31
7. What is the prophecy being made in 2:1-4:6 and when will it happen? In the word given to Isaiah, Judah and Jerusalem are told of a time when their city will be the center of the world politically, but they will first undergo judgment from the Lord for their prideful sin 2:1--4:6
8. The house of Judah is exhorted by the prophet to do what? 2:5 The house of Jacob is exhorted to walk in God’s light 2:5What does God promise? 4:2-6
9. What do we learn about Judah (the vineyard) and its relationship to God in 5:1-7 Through the image of a vineyard planted by the Lord which produced bad fruit, the Lord promises to judge the nation for her rebellion against Him as expressed in evil upon the people 5:1-7
Setting: Isaiah sings a song of God on behalf of His vineyard (the nation) 5:1a The Lord (beloved) prepared well a vineyard and expected it to produce good fruit, but it produced worthless ones 5:1b-2 The nation is exhorted to be the judge concerning whether the Lord could have done anything else for the sake of His vineyard 5:3-4 The Lord of the vineyard promises to destroy the vineyard by taking away its defenses, and charging outside sources to bring about destruction 5:5-6 The Lord of Hosts vows to judge Israel (the vineyard) and Judah (His choice plant) because of their rebellion against the people 5:7
10. How will God's judgment be fulfilled? 5:8-30 After Isaiah pronounces woes upon the nation for its hubris against the people in a breaking of the Law of the Lord, he tells of a humbling judgment which the Lord will bring from foreigners against His people 5:8-30

Study for this Week
I asked you to look specifically at Ahaz and Hezekiah in 1 and 2 Kings and 1 and 2 Chronicles and see how what you see there relates to what is in the book of Isaiah

11. Judgments: (7:1-12:6)
a. What is the story of Ahaz? (7:1-25)
b. Who is being brought to judgment and who is being used as an instrument of judgment in 8:1-10:34
c. Who and when is 11:1-12:6 about?
12. Give two of the judgments of the nations given in 13:1-23:18.
13. What do we find about the condition of Israel in the end? 24:1-27:13
14. What happens to the people of God in the end? 33:1-24
15. Who is blessed and who is cursed? 34:1-35:10
16. What is the story of Hezekiah? 36:1-39:8

Question: Be prepared to discuss what you learned from the reading this week.