Thursday
Evening Bible Study
November
7, 2019
Introduction
The book of Isaiah is the first book in the section of the Old Testament
that we call the “prophets”.
It is the Old Testament book that has the clearest picture of the coming
Messiah.
The New Testament quotes from Isaiah more than from any other prophet.
John, the forerunner of Christ, began his ministry with a quote from Isaiah
(Mat. 3:3).
Jesus preached His first sermon in Nazareth from Isaiah (Luke 4:17-21).
Old Bible critics will say that the book of Isaiah is actually two books
written by different authors, with chapters 1-39 as the first book, and
chapters 40-66 as the second.
The two sections are indeed distinct, but they serve different purposes.
The first half is a book of judgment, the second half is one of comfort.
Better, recent scholarship, including the contribution of the Dead Sea
Scrolls affirms that it is a single book written by a single author.
This is not a book that was written all at once, in a single sitting. There
are various sections of the book, and it is the compiling of the writings of a
man over sixty years.
There will be times that the prophetic message is aimed close to Isaiah’s
time.
There will be times when the prophetic message is aimed far in the future.
There will be times when the message has a double effect with both a near
and far prophecy.
Isaiah has contemporaries.
His ministry overlaps the prophets Hosea and Micah.
His ministry lies roughly between 740-700 BC.
He prophesies during the reigns of the Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah –
all kings of the southern kingdom of Judah.
Keep in mind that in Isaiah’s lifetime, Israel has been split into two
different nations.
The northern ten tribes were called “Israel”, or “Ephraim”.
The southern two tribes were called “Judah”
Isaiah lived in the southern nation, and they are the main focus of his
prophecies.
Two concepts to keep in mind as we study prophecy:
We have seen that some prophecies have “double fulfillments” – they may be
fulfilled inside Isaiah’s day, and then again far in the future (like Is. 7:14
– the virgin).
We are also seeing that when it comes to prophecy, sometimes the prophecy
can skip hundreds or thousands of years between one phrase and the next. This
is called “prophetic telescoping”.
Isaiah 40
read vs. 1-5
:3 The voice of one crying in the wilderness
This is a prophecy about John the Baptist.
He said so himself (Mat. 3:1-4; Mark 1:1-4; Luke 1:76-78; 3:1-6; John
1:22-23)
He came to “prepare” the nation for the Messiah.
:3 Prepare the way of the Lord
When an ancient dignitary, such as the king of Assyria would travel, he
would send an advance team ahead of him that would straighten out the roads to
make it easier travelling.
That’s what John did for Jesus – urging the people to repent and be ready
for the Messiah.
read vs. 6-8
:8 the word of our God stands forever
Peter quoted this passage in 1Pet. 1:24-25.
People come and go, God’s Word lasts forever.
read vs. 9-11
:11 He will feed His flock like a shepherd
From the times of Abraham, the Jewish people were a nation built on
shepherding.
They knew how to take care of a flock.
Today you’ll see modern shepherds do all kinds of things for their sheep…
They might be pulling a sheep out of the hole they fell into…
Video: Man pulls sheep out of hole
They might even go surfing…
Video: Surfer Sheep
Lesson
Trust the Shepherd
Jesus came along and declared:
(John 10:11 NKJV) “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the
sheep.
The writer of Hebrews reminds us that Jesus is…
(Hebrews
13:20 NKJV) …that great Shepherd of the sheep…
As our Shepherd, He knows how to take care of us, feed us, protect us, and
comfort us.
Illustration
Years ago a military officer and his wife were aboard a ship that was caught
in a raging ocean storm. Seeing the
frantic look in her eyes, the man tried unsuccessfully to calm her fears.
Suddenly she grasped his sleeve and cried, “How can you be so calm?” He stepped back a few feet and drew his
sword. Pointing it at her heart, he
said, “Are you afraid of this?” Without
hesitation she answered, “Of course not!”
“Why not?” he inquired. “Because
it’s in your hand, and you love me too much to hurt me.” To this he replied, “I know the One who holds
the winds and the waters in the hollow of His hand, and He will surely care for
us!”
read vs. 12-24
:12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand
Sometimes we get so caught up in our problems that we lose sight of who God
is, and just how big He is.
The world’s oceans combined contain 321,253,800 cubic miles of water. That’s a lot of water! Yet God, in creating the earth, only needed
to measure out the water in handfuls.
When you look up at the stars, measurements get beyond our comprehension.
In space, things are measured in “light years”.
One light year is 5.88 trillion
miles. The nearest star, Alpha Centauri,
is 4.3 light years from the earth.
And yet God measures out the heavens with the “span”, the distance between
the thumb and pinky finger.
read vs. 25-26
:26 He calls them all by name
The universe seems to be bigger and bigger.
Twenty years ago, they thought there were 40 billion galaxies. Now they think there are 200 billion
galaxies, with each galaxy containing somewhere between 50 and 100 billion stars.
God has a name for each star.
read vs. 27
:27 My way is hidden from the Lord
I like to insert my own name in this verse.
Lesson
Our big God sees
When we are going through difficult times, we can fall into the trap of
thinking that God has somehow forgotten about us. We wonder why we are in this mess.
If God can remember countless stars by name, He remembers you.
(Matthew 10:29–31
NLT) —29 What is the price of two sparrows—one copper coin? But not a single
sparrow can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it. 30 And the very hairs on your head are all numbered. 31 So don’t be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock
of sparrows.
He doesn’t just see us, He identifies with us. He understands us.
God sees and He cares.
read vs. 28-31
:31 those who wait on the Lord
wait – qavah – wait, hope, expect; to look eagerly for; to lie
in wait for; linger for
The word “waited” is not a rare word in
the Old Testament (47x). It carries the
idea of “hope” and “waiting eagerly for” something.
(Psalm 27:14 NKJV) Wait on the Lord; Be of good
courage, And He shall
strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the Lord!
(Lamentations
3:25 NKJV) The Lord
is good to those who wait for Him, To the soul who seeks Him.
:31 Shall renew their strength
renew – chalaph – to change, substitute,
alter, change for better, renew.
The word “renew” is the idea of
changing clothes, taking off the old stuff and putting on new ones. It’s taking
our weakness and exchanging it for God’s strength.
It reminds me of what Paul said about
his praying for the thorn to depart:
(2
Corinthians 12:9 NKJV) And He said to me, “My grace is
sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore
most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may
rest upon me.
:31 They shall mount up with wings like eagles
Lesson
Strength from waiting
mount up – ` alah – to go up, ascend, climb
God told Moses to say to the people,
(Exodus 19:4 NKJV) ‘You have
seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings
and brought you to Myself.
I found a video of a young eagle learning to fly, and a big part of it
involves the young eagle using the wind.
I hope we find what it is to learn to ride on the wind of the Spirit.
John Gill, very old English expositor writes about “waiting”…
as
servants on their masters, to know their pleasure, do their work, and have
their wages;
as
clients on their patrons, to have advice of them, put their cause into their
hands, and know how it goes;
and as
beggars at the door, who knock and wait, tell their case and wait, meet with
repulses, yet keep their place, and continue waiting:
(We are children, servants, clients, beggars)
…Such
an act supposes a knowledge and reverence of God, confidence in him, attendance
on him, not with the body only, in public and private, but with the soul also,
and with some degree of constancy, and with patience and quietness:
the
Lord is to be waited upon for the manifestations of himself, who
sometimes hides himself, but is to be waited for, since he has his set time to
show himself again, and his presence is worth waiting for;
also
for the performance of his promises, which may be expected from his
perfections, the nature of the promises, and their being in Christ;
likewise
for answers of prayer, and for the fresh discoveries of pardoning grace
and mercy …
:31 They shall walk and not faint
Lesson
Walking is ok
There are three things mentioned here. And they go from the great to the
ordinary. It’s a wonderful thing to fly like an eagle, but it can be down right
ordinary to just walk.
Illustration
William Carey, the father of modern missions wrote, “I can plod. That is my only genius. I can
persevere in any definite pursuit. To this I owe everything.”
Illustration
John Claypool, the preacher of a Baptist Church, had a little daughter who
suffered with leukemia. When she went into remission, everybody thought maybe
God had healed her. On an Easter Sunday morning she went into a terrible
recurrence. In his book, Tracks of a
Fellow Struggler, Claypool relates how for two weeks his daughter was
wracked with pain, her eyes swollen shut. She asked him, “Daddy, did you talk
to God about my leukemia?”
He said, “Yes, dear, we’ve been praying for you.”
She asked, “Did you ask him how long the leukemia would last? What did God
say?”
What do you say to your daughter when you can’t help her, and the heavens
are silent? Emotionally and spiritually he was exhausted. A few hours later,
she died. The following Sunday morning, John Claypool got into the pulpit to
preach. It was powerful. He preached on Isaiah 40:31 …
Dr. Claypool said something to the effect, “There are three stages of life.
Sometimes we mount up with wings as an eagle and fly. We’re on top of the
world. Sometimes we run, and we don’t grow weary. We just go through the
routine. Sometimes it’s all we can do to walk and not faint, and I need your
prayers and your encouragement.” At the moment John Claypool was at his lowest,
he preached probably his most influential sermon. Perhaps his greatest contribution
came at his darkest hour. He could have said like Paul, “For when I am weak,
then I am strong.”
-- R. L. Russell, “Triumphing
over Trials,” Preaching Today, Tape No. 119.
Isaiah 41
read vs. 1-4
:4 I, the Lord, am the first
This may remind you of Jesus being the “alpha and omega”, the “first and
the last”.
You are going to see God using words like this over the next couple of
chapters, reminding the people that He is God, and there is no other “gods”.
read vs. 5-9
:8 you, Israel, are My servant
God will be talking a lot about His “servant”.
Here we see it clearly being Israel, but later on you will notice that
Jesus is also called “the servant”.
Today, Jews do not recognize Jesus as “the servant”, but use this verse to
say that it’s all about the Jews, even in Isa. 53, the “suffering servant”.
read vs. 10
:10 Fear not, for I am with you
Lesson
He speaks
You will see more and more of these verses in Isaiah that will seem to be
talking directly to you.
Some would say that this was only meant for the Jews in Isaiah’s day.
I would disagree. I think sometimes they are speaking to us.
(Hebrews 4:12 NLT) For the word
of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword,
cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our
innermost thoughts and desires.
Let some of these things sink in.
God’s Word has the ability to skip through time and space – right to you.
I find that God still speaks today.
There are times when a song shows up on my playlist that cuts right
through to where I’m at. This morning
this song started playing.
It’s a song by Lauren Daigle. If
you’re watching the archived video of the study, you may need to go to YouTube
and search for Lauren Daigle Rescue.
You could close your eyes and just listen to the words, as if God were
singing to you…
God promises to take care of us. Why
should we be afraid?
Paul wrote,
(Romans 8:31 NKJV) What then
shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be
against us?
read vs. 11-16
:14 you worm Jacob
Some folks spend too much time worrying about God calling His people a
“worm”.
Here’s the deal – there may be times when we indeed feel as low as a worm,
but don’t miss that in this passage, God promises to take care of the “worm”.
read vs. 17-20
:18 I will open rivers in desolate heights
Lesson
Satisfied
God promises to quench the thirsty.
(John 7:37–38 NKJV)
—37 On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood
and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. 38 He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart
will flow rivers of living water.”
The challenge for us is to make sure that we are going to the right place
with our thirst.
We need to go to Jesus, not things that only turn to sand in our mouths.
Summarize vs. 17-29
God challenges the people regarding idols.
They are nothing, they do nothing, they only lead to confusion.
Isaiah 42
read vs. 1-4
:1 Behold! My Servant
Though the Jews would like to think that all references to “servant” is
about them, there are actually several “servants” mentioned in Isaiah.
Israel – we saw this in 41:8-9
Cyrus – We’ll see him mentioned by name in vs. 44:29; 45:1 as God’s
“servant”.
Jesus – as it is here.
Matthew (Mat. 12:14-21) links Isaiah 42 to Jesus. He quotes Isaiah 42:1-4.
(Matthew
12:14–21 NKJV) —14 Then the Pharisees went out and
plotted against Him, how they might destroy Him. 15 But when Jesus knew it, He
withdrew from there. And great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them all.
16 Yet He warned them not to make Him known, 17 that it
might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: 18 “Behold! My
Servant whom I have chosen, My Beloved in whom My soul is well pleased! I will put
My Spirit upon Him, And He will declare justice to the Gentiles. 19 He will not
quarrel nor cry out, Nor will anyone hear His voice in the streets. 20 A bruised
reed He will not break, And smoking flax He will not quench, Till He
sends forth justice to victory; 21 And in His name Gentiles will
trust.”
:3 A bruised reed He will not break
Jesus cares for those that are hurting and wounded.
He’s not out to destroy those that are hurting.
He will not discard those that are broken.
read vs. 5-9
This is a message to Jesus the Messiah from God. See if it doesn’t fit Jesus perfectly.
:8 My glory I will not give to another
“Glory” is like having a spotlight on you.
It’s easy to fall in love with the spotlight. When God uses you, you will find that people
will put a kind of “spotlight” on you.
It’s not only pretty cool to be used by God, but it sure feels special to
have people thanking you for it
all. But the spotlight belongs on Jesus.
In verses 10-13…
This passage will mention “Kedar” (Arabians) and “Sela” (modern Petra).
I wonder if this passage isn’t a song of praise from the Jews who are
scattered into modern Jordan during the Tribulation, and Jesus rescues them
(we’ll see in Isaiah 63).
read vs. 10-13
read vs. 14
:14 I have held My peace
This is speaking of God’s patience until the time of Jesus’ return.
(2 Peter 3:9 NLT) The Lord
isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is
being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants
everyone to repent.
:14 like a woman in labor
When a mom is giving birth, there’s those last terrible moments of great
intense pain – sometimes there’s some loud yelling – and then comes that final
“push” when the baby is delivered.
This is like God waiting until the time has come to deal with God’s enemies
and rescues His people.
read vs. 15-17
God will rescue His people.
read vs. 18-20
:19 Who is blind by My servant..
I don’t think the “servant” here is Jesus.
He has switched back to Israel.
They had seen God do great things throughout history, but at times chose to
ignore them.
read vs. 21-25
:25 Yet he did not know
At times in their history, God has allowed the Jewish people to go through
great difficulty, trying to get them to wake up and turn to Him.
Warren Wiersbe writes,
“How sad it is when God disciplines us
and we do not understand what He is doing or take it to heart (v. 25).”
Isaiah 43
read vs. 1-7
:2 When you walk through the fire
Whether it’s going through “waters” or “fire”, God promises to be with His
people.
Perhaps God wants to speak this to you tonight…
Lesson
In the fire
We will continue to see this in our journey through 1Peter. God reminds us that we will go through “fiery
trials”, that we shouldn’t be “surprised” when they come.
He also promises to be with us.
I wonder if the young Jewish men in Babylon had this in mind when they
stood up to Nebuchadnezzar.
Nebuchadnezzar had made a huge statue for the purpose of making all the
people worship it. He threatened to
throw all those who didn’t obey into a furnace of fire.
When the time came to bow, three young men stayed on their feet.
Nebuchadnezzar was outraged at their rebellion and demanded to know why
they dared disobey his order.
They responded:
(Daniel
3:17–18 NLT) —17 If we are thrown into the blazing
furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us from your
power, Your Majesty. 18 But even if he doesn’t, we want to
make it clear to you, Your Majesty, that we will never serve your gods or
worship the gold statue you have set up.”
As you probably know, Nebuchadnezzar threw them into the furnace…
Video: The Bible –
Fiery Furnace
He promises to be with us.
Is this something God wants to speak to you about?
:3 I gave Egypt for your ransom, Ethiopia and Seba…
After King Cyrus let the Jews go back to Israel, his son, Cambyses,
conquered these areas.
The idea is that God gave these lands to the Persians as a kind of payment
for their releasing the Jews.
read vs. 8-15
:10 Before Me there was no God formed
Again, there are no other “gods”.
read vs. 16-17
:16 who makes a way in the sea
This is a reference to God parting the Red Sea in Moses’ day, but someone
took it to another level.
Matthew Fontaine Maury (1806-1873) was a United States naval officer, and one of the founders of modern oceanography. Maury used this verse as a basis of his idea
that there might indeed be “paths” in the ocean. He gathered information on maritime winds and
collected data from the logbooks of ships captains. His work was the basis for modern
oceanography as he uncovered the major currents in the oceans.
read vs. 18-21
read vs. 22-28
Despite all of God’s promises to Israel, they had fallen away from God.
:23 I have not caused you to serve with…
He didn’t demand that they bring free will offerings, and sure enough, they
had stopped doing that.
They had grown lukewarm with God.
We too don’t “have” to worship God with our whole heart, and sometimes
that’s just what we do. We sing the
words, but our hearts are far from God.
:18-19 a new thing…shall you not know it?
One of the “new things” was “rivers in the desert”.
In Israel, this happens from time to time when it rains. The dry desert suddenly has rivers and
streams coming down from the hills.
Video: SourceFlix – Streams in the
Desert
Lesson
Don’t miss out
I think there is value in looking back at how God has worked in the past.
It can encourage us to think of what God has done.
Really old Calvary Chapel people will often talk about the days of the
“tent” during the Jesus movement.
The problem comes when we get “stuck” in the past. We stop looking forward to what God has ahead
of us.
I know I shared this a month ago, but it’s a great story…
Illustration
“Keeping my Fork”
The sound of Martha’s voice on the other end of the telephone always
brought a smile to Brother Jim’s face. This time, however, there seemed to be
an unusual tone to her words. “Preacher, could you stop by this afternoon? I
need to talk with you.” “Of course, I’ll
be there around three. Is that ok?” It didn’t take long for Jim to discover the
reason for what he had only sensed in her voice before. Martha shared the news that her doctor had
just discovered a previously undetected tumor. “He says I probably have six months
to live”. Martha’s words were naturally
serious, yet there was a definite calm about her. “I’m so sorry to...” but before Jim could
finish, Martha interrupted. “Don’t be. The Lord has been good. I have lived a
long life. I’m ready to go.” “I know,” Jim whispered with a reassuring nod.
“But I do want to talk with you about my funeral. I have been thinking about it, and there are
things that I know I want.” The two talked quietly for a long time. When it
seemed that they had covered just about everything, Aunt Martha paused, looked
up at Jim with a twinkle in her eye, and then added, “One more thing, preacher.
When they bury me, I want my old Bible in one hand and a fork in the other”. “A
fork?” Jim was sure he had heard
everything, but this caught him by surprise.
“Why do you want to be buried with a fork?” “I have been thinking about
all of the church dinners and banquets that I attended through the years,” she
explained, “Sometimes, at the best ones, somebody would lean over my shoulder
and whisper, ‘You can keep your fork.’ “And do you know what that meant? Dessert was coming! And not a cup of Jell-O
or pudding or even a dish of ice cream. You don’t need a fork for that. It
meant the good stuff, like chocolate cake or cherry pie! When they told me I
could keep my fork, I knew the best was yet to come! “That’s exactly what I
want people to talk about at my funeral. Sure, they can talk about all the good
times we had together. That would be nice.
But when they walk by my casket and look at my pretty blue dress, I want
them to turn to one another and say, ‘Why the fork’? “That’s when I want you to
tell them, that I kept my fork because ‘the best is yet to come!’” ~ Author
Unknown
The challenge for us is – will we be ready to see what God is doing when it
comes?
Some of the Jews in Jesus’ day missed out on the Messiah because Jesus
didn’t fit their preconceived ideas of what the Messiah should look like.
I think this will be a challenge for us as a church as we are facing some
pretty big changes.
Sometime in the next nine months we will be moving. What if our new place doesn’t seem as “nice”
as where we are now? Could God still
work?
In two months, Caleb will be stepping into the role of Sr. Pastor as I step
back to be one of his assistants.
Some of you have already noticed that Caleb doesn’t sound
like me, and doesn’t quite teach like me.
Yet what if God has better days ahead of us? Will I even “see” it as it happens?