One glance at the book as a whole, and you’ve got to ask… “Really? Isaiah? That’s gonna be a challenge!” For sure. The book is daunting, overwhelming even. Not just the size, the poetic structure or the distant culture, but the very content of the book. Most of the time you can follow what the prophet is talking about, but more often than we want, the prophet will mystify, even frighten.
So, why are we spending the summer with Isaiah?
We preach Isaiah because it is the Word of God. Daunting or not, challenging or encouraging, a source of comfort or a source of concern, the book of Isaiah is, at its most fundamental sense, God’s address to His people. Out of all the things God could have given us, He has given us the prophecies in the book of Isaiah. How could we possibly ignore them?
We preach Isaiah because it nicely ties the Old Testament and the New Testament together. The culture, history and even language of the Old Testament often feels foreign to us. Indeed, we can be so overwhelmed by the differences that we miss the tie that links the Old Testament to the New Testament— the redemptive work of God. Few books in the Old Testament express that redemptive plan as clearly as found in Isaiah’s prophecies, and it will be a joy to explore these this summer.
We preach Isaiah as an encouragement for evangelism. While our worlds might differ, we face today the same blindness, the same wickedness, the same idolatry and yet, the same spiritual need that Isaiah confronted. The same expression of God’s desire to dwell with His people, the Lord’s wrath against sin, His commitment to act on our behalf, His transforming power in our lives. All this and so much more resonates as much in Isaiah’s time as in ours. We preach Isaiah to preach the Gospel to ourselves and those around us.
We preach Isaiah to reveal the emptiness of idolatry. The brokenness of our world shines forth in the impotence of our worship. Isaiah exposes the powerlessness of our sin: worshipping blind, deaf and dumb idols makes us blind, deaf and dumb. As we confront the idols of our time—power, wealth, pleasure, security—Isaiah reminds us that they provide us nothing; rather, they further degrade us, diminishing the image of God in which we were created.
We preach Isaiah to see the glory of the living God. The prophecies of Isaiah are a magnificent encounter with the exalted, holy Lord. Throughout the book we see God’s glory revealed in His sovereignty, His wisdom as Creator, His holiness as Judge. The Lord’s glory shines in His plan of redemption, and it is our joy to proclaim it each week as we worship together.
Please join us each week as we proclaim the glory of God through the book of Isaiah. In preparation for worship this week, read Isaiah 1.
- If you needed to divide the chapter into four or five parts, how would you do so? What subtitles would you give to each section?
- In the opening verses, how is sin described? What terms does Isaiah use? What are some of the effects or results of the presence of sin here?
- In verses 10-17, God describes His feelings for the worship that is happening in Israel. Why is He so negative here? Most of the practices He denounces were practices He Himself ordained… why so critical?
- I love verse 10. The idea of God almost pleading to be heard by His people, the promise of cleansing, the vibrant description of the sin, all combine to make a wonderful picture. What aspect of the verse speaks most to you?
- What is the overall tone of each section? If you had to place emotion in God’s voice during these sections, how would He sound?