Week 16: Discovering the Character of God Through Isaiah
16.1 As a group, discuss the times when we've felt that God seems distant. What is it that usually brings us to that place? How do we get out of it? Do we question God? Ourselves? Do we ever get a sense of foreboding/warning that it's coming?
16.2 Isaiah in context: Read Isaiah 1:1 and 2 Kings 15:1-4 and add Isaiah to the Kings handout - noting the Kings who reigned during his lifetime. At the start of Isaiah's ministry, Judah is still 'treading water'. They've messed up but, for the most part, their kings are still doing ok. Uzziah - aka Amaziah - is doing pretty well as king, except for not removing the high places. At the same time, the Israelites are in their final days; they've had horrendous leaders and finally they end up in a situation where the Assyrians attack and 'take them out'. Judah - and more significantly, Isaiah - saw this happening and God gave Isaiah a message for the people. Its intensity was to make the people squirm and bring them to repentance under the conviction of their sin. However, its also full of passages that teach us that God wants the best for His people - even if that includes judgement. In fact, the book starts with God blasting the people of Judah for their sin and warning them of this coming judgment but mercifully*, He also promises hope. (*Can anyone remember the definition of 'mercy'?) We're going to start a couple of chapters into the book, after God has already given Judah a couple of stark warnings.
16.3 Read Isaiah 6:1-10 and discuss what appears to be going on. This passage is saturated with glimpses of God's character, invite the group to share their impressions. Some ideas to help... He reveals Himself, cleanses us, doesn't force us, purifies us, is holy, is sovereign*, is worshipped, makes us one with Him/atones* us [NIV] (*Define Sovereign and Atonement).
Go on to discuss why God reveals Himself - and these characteristics - to Isaiah right at the beginning of his ministry (times were going to get tough; it was encouragement that God was in control). Can anyone think of someone we've studied who had a similar reassurance from God at the beginning of their ministry... 4 times? (Joshua)
God is in the business of encouraging us. We see this over and over in Isaiah and it goes beyond a personal message to being a word for the nation.
16.4 Read Isaiah 43:1-7. The situation has progressed dramatically since chapter 6. God had spoken through Isaiah giving terrific messages of hope and warnings to the people - and also prophecies about the surrounding nations. Now, it's about 200 years later; the Jews have been captured by the Assyrians and kind-of-freed. They're ruled by the Persians (anyone able to name a Jew who lived in those days? Esther, maybe?) and are beginning to rebuild their lives. It's still hard and it's still painful and they still face opposition to their very existence bot God comes along with this continual message of encouragement to remind them that He has it all under control and that He's not going to leave them. Discuss any further characteristics of God that we can see in this passage.
16.5 Final stop on our whistle stop tour is Isaiah 50... well, actually 50-56 (we won't read them all though!). Just a spattering of verses to read: 50:1; 51:1-3; 52:7-9; 53:4-6,11-12; 54:7-8; 55:6; 56:6-8.
A quick summary of this fleeting overview: 'Israel, you sinned; you grieved God's heart but remember where you came from and the promises God gave you. Now, God is making a way for you to be put right with Him: He is giving you a Saviour who will justify* you by bearing your sin. God is having compassion on you so come; receive it, seek Him and repent before He changes His mind! And God will increase your numbers; He is making himself accessible to everyone! (*define justify/justification)
Chapter 53 is very famous - but were it elsewhere it may have lost some of its impact and significance to Israel. God had to convict them of their sin before revealing the Saviour; if we don't think we're sinful we would shun the very idea of needing a Saviour. They also needed to know about this Saviour and their need for Him before God could reveal His glorious promises of chapter 54; they needed to know that the only way that they could enjoy these promises of 54 would be to allow God to deal with the sin He convicted them of in 52 through 51-52 through the servant/Saviour promised in 53.
Week 16: Summary
The book of Isaiah is saturated with glimpses and revelations of God's character with a beautiful message of hope arcing over them all to shine through as the book's ultimate message. Just a handful of the characteristics of God that we've seen are:
16.1 As a group, discuss the times when we've felt that God seems distant. What is it that usually brings us to that place? How do we get out of it? Do we question God? Ourselves? Do we ever get a sense of foreboding/warning that it's coming?
16.2 Isaiah in context: Read Isaiah 1:1 and 2 Kings 15:1-4 and add Isaiah to the Kings handout - noting the Kings who reigned during his lifetime. At the start of Isaiah's ministry, Judah is still 'treading water'. They've messed up but, for the most part, their kings are still doing ok. Uzziah - aka Amaziah - is doing pretty well as king, except for not removing the high places. At the same time, the Israelites are in their final days; they've had horrendous leaders and finally they end up in a situation where the Assyrians attack and 'take them out'. Judah - and more significantly, Isaiah - saw this happening and God gave Isaiah a message for the people. Its intensity was to make the people squirm and bring them to repentance under the conviction of their sin. However, its also full of passages that teach us that God wants the best for His people - even if that includes judgement. In fact, the book starts with God blasting the people of Judah for their sin and warning them of this coming judgment but mercifully*, He also promises hope. (*Can anyone remember the definition of 'mercy'?) We're going to start a couple of chapters into the book, after God has already given Judah a couple of stark warnings.
16.3 Read Isaiah 6:1-10 and discuss what appears to be going on. This passage is saturated with glimpses of God's character, invite the group to share their impressions. Some ideas to help... He reveals Himself, cleanses us, doesn't force us, purifies us, is holy, is sovereign*, is worshipped, makes us one with Him/atones* us [NIV] (*Define Sovereign and Atonement).
Go on to discuss why God reveals Himself - and these characteristics - to Isaiah right at the beginning of his ministry (times were going to get tough; it was encouragement that God was in control). Can anyone think of someone we've studied who had a similar reassurance from God at the beginning of their ministry... 4 times? (Joshua)
God is in the business of encouraging us. We see this over and over in Isaiah and it goes beyond a personal message to being a word for the nation.
16.4 Read Isaiah 43:1-7. The situation has progressed dramatically since chapter 6. God had spoken through Isaiah giving terrific messages of hope and warnings to the people - and also prophecies about the surrounding nations. Now, it's about 200 years later; the Jews have been captured by the Assyrians and kind-of-freed. They're ruled by the Persians (anyone able to name a Jew who lived in those days? Esther, maybe?) and are beginning to rebuild their lives. It's still hard and it's still painful and they still face opposition to their very existence bot God comes along with this continual message of encouragement to remind them that He has it all under control and that He's not going to leave them. Discuss any further characteristics of God that we can see in this passage.
16.5 Final stop on our whistle stop tour is Isaiah 50... well, actually 50-56 (we won't read them all though!). Just a spattering of verses to read: 50:1; 51:1-3; 52:7-9; 53:4-6,11-12; 54:7-8; 55:6; 56:6-8.
A quick summary of this fleeting overview: 'Israel, you sinned; you grieved God's heart but remember where you came from and the promises God gave you. Now, God is making a way for you to be put right with Him: He is giving you a Saviour who will justify* you by bearing your sin. God is having compassion on you so come; receive it, seek Him and repent before He changes His mind! And God will increase your numbers; He is making himself accessible to everyone! (*define justify/justification)
Chapter 53 is very famous - but were it elsewhere it may have lost some of its impact and significance to Israel. God had to convict them of their sin before revealing the Saviour; if we don't think we're sinful we would shun the very idea of needing a Saviour. They also needed to know about this Saviour and their need for Him before God could reveal His glorious promises of chapter 54; they needed to know that the only way that they could enjoy these promises of 54 would be to allow God to deal with the sin He convicted them of in 52 through 51-52 through the servant/Saviour promised in 53.
Week 16: Summary
The book of Isaiah is saturated with glimpses and revelations of God's character with a beautiful message of hope arcing over them all to shine through as the book's ultimate message. Just a handful of the characteristics of God that we've seen are:
- God reveals Himself to us
- He is in the 'Encouragement Business'
- He is Holy
- He is Sovereign
- He loves us
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