Today’s passage: Isaiah 17

Helpful thoughts:

• Israel would suffer the same consequences of the nations and kingdom she had aligned herself with.  Israel had become like all the other nations.
  • Exodus 34:10-16
• For more information on the worship of Asherah, check out this website.
  • Asherah (Or her equivalent in surrounding nations) was considered a consort to whomever was the highest god…This is another reason why God forbade the planting of an Asherah pole next to an altar for His worship (Deuteronomy 16:21).  He did not allow the people to think that He had a wife-god, or a “Queen of Heaven”.
• Israel had chosen the designer gods of man (“Works of their own hands”), and all of their designs would be destroyed so that all which remained to be seen was the God who had designed and created them.

Questions to consider:

1. Why does mankind choose other things of our own making over God?  What motivates and what results from the attempted minimizing of our Creator and the maximizing of our own creations?
2. How is God’s discipline of Israel gracious?  Why is God doing good to us when He would strip everything that would distract us away?  What do we need the most?
3. How can you make sure that God is your primary focus and delight on this day?

Today’s passage: Isaiah 15-16

Helpful thoughts:

• Chapters 15 & 16 contain one continuous prophecy and message concerning Moab.
  • This prophecy takes a much different tone, one of sympathy or sadness over Moab’s demise.
• In the midst of the prophecy, Israel/Judah is told to take in and shelter the outcasts of Moab and promised the coming of the Messiah (Verses 3-5).
• Scattered throughout the prophecy and highlighted in verse 12, are remarks concerning the hopelessness and powerlessness of the worship of the Moabites.
  • It was a sad sight to see Moab trying to cry out to false gods for help…when of course, no help would come.

Questions to consider:

1. What would the connection be between the Moabites needing shelter from “The destroyer” (Verse 4) and their false worship of gods who do not exist?  (See Deuteronomy 32:16-17, Who is behind false gods and their worship?)
2. How were God’s people encouraged to look upon the struggling Moabites, even though their suffering was a result of their sin (Arrogance, pride, idle boasting, etc.)?  Do we gloat and brag when our enemy falls?  How should the Christian treat those who mistreat them? (Romans 12:9-21)  How do you find the strength and love to share with those who do not love you?

Today’s passage: Isaiah 14:24-32

Helpful thoughts:

• What God plans, happens. What God purposes, stands.  He is the LORD of hosts.  We have seen this name for God and these truths repeated often so far in Isaiah.
  • Even if man were to look at the Assyrians and be amazed by their strength…  God > The Assyrians
• In the second portion of today’s passage, God warns the Philistines.
  • They are warned not to think they have found relief after the death of Ahaz, king of Judah.
  • Ahaz was not the one they should have feared in the first place.  God is the Lord of Israel.  He is the one to be feared, and He hadn’t gone anywhere.
• If you are in Christ, you are on the victory side!  Proceed with humble confidence.

Questions to consider:

1. Is there a person or a nation on this earth that can overpower our God?  Can anything happen that He misses, that He did not see coming, or that He had not planned?
2. How should God’s power and sovereignty change how we look at world events, leaders, and even the people in our towns, neighborhoods, schools and workplaces?  Do you have to worry about playing defense for the LORD of hosts?  Does He need your protection?  Are we to have a defensive posture or an offensive one?
3. Why will the Church be victorious?  Who deserves the glory and praise for her growth and expansion?  Should a church be energized and mobilized because of new leadership (King Ahaz? New Pastor?), or because God is on the throne and Jesus Christ is risen from the dead?

Today’s passage: Isaiah 14:1-23

Helpful thoughts:

• Those who had previously enslaved Israelites, would soon find that being a slave to an Israelite was better than the life they could have in their own land.
• Verses 4-21 are given as a taunt to the king of Babylon.  Many people attribute verses 12 and following to Satan though the passage does not directly address him. (The use of “Lucifer” in the King James version comes from the Latin translation of “Day star” or “Morning star”.)
  • Though the passage may not explicitly single out Satan, what this passage says would certainly be true of anyone who thought themselves worthy of supplanting or even replicating God’s authority and power.
• This king of Babylon picked a fight with the only One he perceived as still higher than he, and he was humiliated as all who would challenge the LORD of Hosts will be.

Questions to consider:

1. Why is God right (And kind) to command, “You shall have no other gods before me”?
2. How does the desire and effort of this king contrast with the actions of the King of Kings in Philippians 2:5-11?  How did God respond to humility versus pride?
3. If our greatest desire is for man to think highly of us (Even to worship us), what will be the likely outcome (Verse 16)?

Today’s passage: Isaiah 13

Helpful thoughts:

• “My proudly exulting ones” would be referring to those who are exulting in the majesty of the LORD.
• “The day of the Lord” can refer to a specific day or time of judgment in history over a single nation, or it is also used to speak of the end, the final judgment.  Either way, when the day of the Lord of hosts comes, there is no escaping it.  Those who are due judgment will receive it.
  • This lack of control/power the people have flies in the face of the arrogance and pride they previously displayed.  Man has no reason for arrogance.  God is on the throne.
• Verses 14-16 give a sorry account of what happens when man quarrels within sinful mankind.  When God allows nations to destroy other nations, we destroy ourselves in grotesque ways…in this case the Medes against the Babylonians.

Questions to consider:

1. What is the only right response for the person who considers the holiness, authority, power and justice of God?  What is man in relation to God?
2. According to verse 11, what makes a person evil, wicked, and ruthless?
3. Do you think we tend to underestimate or overestimate the amount of suffering that Christ endured on the cross for our sin?  What did Jesus do for you on that “Day of the Lord” at Calvary?

Today’s passage: Isaiah 12

Helpful thoughts:

• This chapter contains two songs of praise and thanksgiving.
  • Verse 1 and 4 give the introduction, “In that day”
  • Both songs end with reason for joy!
• In order to have joy drawing from the wells of salvation, you first have to realize that your attempts to save yourself would prove futile.
  • But when you humble yourself and receive salvation, you receive joy and God gets glory and praise!
• When God is your greatest delight and joy, it brings you more joy when others see and rejoice with you.
  • Joy in God fuels evangelism.

Questions to consider:

1. What produces genuine, sincere shouting and singing?  When does God become someone we would shout and sing about (Not in the future, in the present)?
2. Does the greatness of God amaze you?  What are the reasons (And there are many) that we should be amazed by God’s greatness?  What things tend to distract us/allure us in such a way that God drops in the order of significance in our heart?
3. If what keeps you from enjoying God is people, how do you need to think about those people differently?  How does gaining their temporary favor compare to having Christ forever?  What do they need?  What could be their greatest joy?

Today’s passage: Isaiah 11

Helpful thoughts:

• This “Shoot” or “Branch” can be no one but Jesus Christ.
• Christ will not rule as other men, being easily persuaded or tricked.  His judgment will be perfect.
• God’s transforming, recreating power will return things to Eden like conditions.
• The destruction of the final verses (15-16) is not of peoples or nations, but instead barriers that would prevent people from having easy access to the LORD.  Once judgment is completed, God will make it so that the nations have “highways” to get to the LORD in Jerusalem!

Questions to consider:

1. What will be different in that day?  What do you look forward to the most?  What things that are wrong in the world will be made right?
2. What is the difference between the “Coming” that occurs when Christ returns and the “Going” that Christ has called us to while we wait for His return?
3. How long has God been including the nations?  Was the worship of the LORD ever intended to be exclusively limited to Israel?

Today’s passage: Isaiah 10:20-34

Helpful thoughts:

• The Lord is in complete control.  He knows who the remnant is, He knows when judgment should come, He knows when destruction should cease, and He will see to it according to His perfect righteous will.
• Even when Israel/Judah were “under the control” of nations like Egypt or Assyria, God was in complete control.
• The Assyrians had grown “fat” due to their oppression of Judah (i.e. Taxes).  Their fatness would be their downfall (Verse 27).

Questions to consider:

1. Why is it helpful to some and troubling to others that God is in complete control (Especially when “bad things” happen)?  Why is it so important to remember that His will is perfect, righteous and just?
2. Can you think of a time in your life when you eventually realized that God’s timing was better than your own?
3. Does God only use people who are following Him or is He even able to use those who are not?  How does God’s ability to use the Assyrians for His purposes display His power and glory?  How can that help you during difficult times?

Today’s passage: Isaiah 10:5-19

Helpful thoughts:

• Assyria had come to think they were pretty special.  But, they were a tool/weapon in God’s hand.
• When Assyria considered what power Judah and Israel had to hope in, all they knew of were the false idols they had been worshiping.  There was no testimony of the LORD in Israel or Judah (Verses 10-11).
• This prophecy was written about Assyria.  But it was written for Judah’s knowledge.  It therefore served as a relief, that Assyria would not defeat Jerusalem and Judah.  It also served as a rebuke.  Judah had turned to the Assyrians for help instead of the Lord, and the Assyrians were nothing more than a tool in God’s hand.  Judah should have repented and turned to the Lord in the first place!

Questions to consider:

1. What do I tend to hope in when things look bleak?  If what I hope in isn’t God, who created and owns that thing?
2. Why didn’t the Assyrians know they were going to have to contend with the LORD of the Jews if they proceeded to battle?  What are some ways people could see where our strength comes from today?  How can a Christian show who fights our “battles” today?
3. When God calls Himself the Lord of hosts, He is reminding us that He doesn’t lose…ever.  What struggle might you be fighting right now without turning to Him?  How can we think about a question like this and not fall into the trap of the prosperity gospel?