Today’s passage: Isaiah 30:1-7

Helpful thoughts:

• Judah was in distress because they had turned away from the Lord.  And, in their increasing distress, they turned to…the Egyptians.
  • This decision makes sense in that Judah had long been in the habit of turning to others beside God.  This wasn’t a new direction.  Judah was being consistent in their rebellion.
• Judah’s trust in Egypt will prove to be useless and bring them more shame.
• God compares Egypt to an ancient near east legend, “Rahab”, who was a fictional sea monster.  God calls Egypt a powerful creature, who will do nothing.  Egypt will provide no help to Judah.

Questions to consider:

1. Had Judah been in the habit of turning to the Lord and worshiping Him in sincerity, where would they have turned when the Assyrians were preparing to attack?  How does our daily walk and worship prepare us for the surprises we face in life?
2. Judah’s decision to turn to Egypt would have been considered “normal”.  What has the world, in our day, been turning to in it’s distress?  Is it working?
3. How could all of the powerful people and/or the nations (Or alliances) in the world today be compared to a fictional powerful force?  Who holds the power and will never fail to accomplish His perfect sovereign will?

Today’s passage: Isaiah 29

Helpful thoughts:

• There will be an army ready to conquer Jerusalem, and seemingly out of nowhere, they will fail.
  • This may have been fulfilled in Isaiah 37:36-37, or perhaps looking forward to later times.
• There will be worshipers of God in Israel, and it will be God’s doing.
• Religious exercises are pointless when the heart of the worshiper is turned “upside down”.
  • God looks at the heart.
  • Man tends to make God the one who serves us!
  • When Christianity starts to mimic idolatry (i.e. Do this ritual, expect that payback), the exchange has already occurred.

Questions to consider:

1. The idea of turning things upside down, is written after the explanation of having words but not being able to read them (Verses 11-12).  How does the idea that God exists to give me what I want make it hard for me to understand the Bible when I read it?  If the Bible is boring to you and confusing, where might the problem lie?
2. Is God confused by our modern day culture?  Why does He know more about the way things are than we do?  Why would it be wrong to put God in a category with “Ancient gods”?
3. If we were the potters and God was the clay, what would He be like?  How many versions of god would there be?  How important is it to learn who He is and what He is like?  Why do we tend to reshape or redefine God?

Today’s passage: Isaiah 28:14-29

Helpful thoughts:

• Remember, this previous word about Ephraim was for the eyes and ears of Judah.  Judah were the people being warned.
• Check out these other passages that share this idea (Or quote this passage) of the cornerstone:
  • 1 Peter 2:4-8
  • Psalm 118:19-24
  • Romans 9:30-33
• If the cornerstone is not perfectly straight and square, the whole building will fall.  Jesus is the perfect cornerstone!

Questions to consider:

1. Why do people stumble over this stone which is the Cornerstone?  Why do we want to establish our own foundation and measuring lines (Our own definition of righteousness and our own version of justice)?
2. What will trusting in God’s plan and provision of Jesus bring?
3. What will trusting in different stones and measurements bring?

Today’s passage: Isaiah 28:1-13

Helpful thoughts:

• The “drunkenness of Ephraim carried through the people, the kings, even the priests and prophets.  No leaders could be trusted.  The people of Israel could not learn God’s word because their own leaders couldn’t teach it.
• The words in verse 10 (“Precept”, “Line”, Here a “little”) are all one syllable words in the Hebrew.
  • Isaiah is implying that the teachers in Israel are so drunk they can only make out one syllable words and speak so slowly and unintelligibly that they speak as if to babies…who can only babble back in kind.
    • As a result, God promises to use the Gentiles to teach Judah His Word, in the same way He taught Israel.  But He isn’t talking about preaching.  He’s talking about the Assyrians (For Israel) and Babylonians (For Judah) coming in to bring judgment.
• The words (or letters) from verse 10 are repeated in verse 13 (“Precepts”, “lines”, “here a little”).  And are translated as the same words in English.  However, remember that these words or letters are now being said by the foreign tongues of invading enemies.
  • When compared to the language of the Assyrians, these words would have been translated as, “Go out”, “Wait”, “Servant listen”.  These are simplistic instructions being given to a people who are now the servants of their conquerors.

Questions to consider:

1. A person may believe they are swallowing down the wine (Or, that they are in control of their sinful actions).  But, how does verse 7 correct this perspective?  What is swallowing and who is being swallowed?
2. Is this passage given to help us learn how to have a good teaching ministry or is it meant to tell Judah how they will be humbled in judgment?  Why is context so important when we use verses from here or there for instruction?  What dangers could arise when we take verses out of context?
3. What does God insert in verses 5-6?  What “proud crown” must we be rid of in order to enjoy the “crown of glory”?

Today’s passage: Isaiah 27

Helpful thoughts:

• Verse 1 could be the conclusion of what transpires in chapter 26.  God defeating the enemy of His people.
• God will one day have no more reason or cause of wrath.  Even if someone would look for thorns, there would be none to find…God will have judged and removed all sin.
• Verse 9 gives a great example of conversion.
  • Israel was in sin.
  • Through God’s (temporary) judgment, people see their need of repentance.
  • When they turn to God, their sins are atoned for. (Ultimately by the blood of Jesus!)
  • Then there is fruit of their conversion.  They change!
    • The fruit seen in these specific people was the destruction of their idolatrous stones, poles, and altars.  They destroyed everything that had been used to worship false gods.
• Those who remained in and trusted in their fortified cities will not enjoy the same end.

Questions to consider:

1. How does this passage encourage the use of discipline?  What was the result of those who God removed from man-made fortification?  What was the result of those who continued to trust in their man-made fortification? (Hebrews 12:5-6)
2. How does the “Vine” come to be without thorns and briers?  Who deserves the glory for your salvation? (Ephesians 2:8-9)
3. What does a person progressively become after they repent and their sins are forgiven? (Ephesians 2:10)

Today’s passage: Isaiah 26

Helpful thoughts:

• “In that day” again refers to the end times.  This is either a song of remembrance of what the Lord has done, which will be sung in the day of the New Heavens, New Earth, and New Jerusalem.  Or, it will be sung in Judah, during the millennial kingdom, prior to the final judgment. (Either way…good lyrics!)
• Beholding the zeal and glory of the Lord results in a heart that seeks/desires to know God even more, which results in a heart that desires to honor and obey Him. (2 Corinthians 3:18)

Questions to consider:

1. How does verse 12 agree with Ephesians 2:8-9?  By whose righteous works are we counted as being righteous?
2. How do you know that you trust something?  When is your trust proven, during times of ease or times of testing/distress?  Do you trust God?
3. Why does it make sense to trust in God alone (Verse 4)?  Why do we place our trust elsewhere in the heat of the moment?  What is revealed about our hearts/affections/thinking/desires when we place our trust elsewhere?

Today’s passage: Isaiah 25

Helpful thoughts:

• Things man can’t do.
  • Once and for all put down the taunts of the ruthless
  • Bring the world together in celebration and praise
  • Give people eyes to see and believe
  • Swallow up death
  • Wipe all tears away
  • Remove the reproach believers endure on this earth
• Things God can and will do.
  • Once and for all put down the taunts of the ruthless
  • Bring the world together in celebration and praise
  • Give people eyes to see and believe
  • Swallow up death
  • Wipe all tears away
  • Remove the reproach believers endure on this earth

Questions to consider:

1. What did you notice about these lists?  Did you find anything else in the passage that is not listed here that would fit?
2. Is it wrong to want our reproach taken away in this world (To want acceptance as followers of Jesus)?  When does our desire for our reproach to be removed become self-centered and even sinful?
3. What will it be like when God fulfills all of these promises?  What will living be like?  What will being sinless be like?  How can meditating on these questions grow your love, affection, and eager expectation for Jesus?

Today’s passage: Isaiah 24

Helpful thoughts:

• This chapter depicts the time of final judgment against sin of all on the earth AND in the heavens (Fallen angels – The hosts of heaven, verse 21) and the subsequent reign of the King of Kings!
• This time of judgment will elicit praise and worship from some and cries of anguish from others.  These responses coming from the few that remain alive.
  • Those who will be praising God will come from the nations, east to west.  This may have been taken in stark contrast to the people of Judah in Isaiah’s day who simply refused to repent and turn to God.  This explains Isaiah’s response, “But I say, “I waste away, I waste away. Woe is me!”
• Verses 21-22 are a brief description of what we learn from Revelation 20.

Questions to consider:

1. Why might it seem harsh or unfitting for God’s worshipers to rejoice during the final judgment of the world?  Why would it seem appropriate?
2. What kind of effect should this prophecy have on a people who were seeking to find hope and security in the nations and peoples that God was going to destroy?  How should Judah have responded to this prophecy?
3. How should we respond?  Why can we rejoice and give praise to the LORD of hosts in the midst of this world?  How can we look forward and say with the Apostle John, “Come Lord Jesus!”? (Revelation 22:20)

Today’s passage: Isaiah 23

Helpful thoughts:

• This chapter completes a series of ten consecutive chapters of oracles from nations in the east (Babylon) to the west (Tyre).
• The consistent threads can be found in verse 9.
  • God is the LORD of hosts.  He will never know defeat.
  • Man will be judged for his pride.  Pride comes before the fall. (Proverbs 16:18)
• Israel and Judah had been told to be holy, set apart unto God, among these nations.  Instead they had come to rely upon them for their safety, worship their gods, and were living with the same pride.
  • God gave Isaiah these oracles not to warn all the surrounding nations, but to remind Judah of who they were and who He is.
• The mention of Tyre prostituting herself again in verse 17 is actually a reference to a song or story from those days that evidently would have been known.  The story is of an aging prostitute who has been forgotten and then has to go out to the streets to sing suggestive songs to try to lure in new “customers”.  Sad…
  • Tyre will likewise have to try to lure customers back to her shores to get back in business after the seventy years are over.

Questions to consider:

1. What did financial wealth and the feeling of security it brought do for the people of Tyre?  How might it have brought about their sinful pride?
2. Why would everyone else be weeping over the fall of Tyre?  Was it the people they loved our something else?  What did they all lose when this financial hub fell apart?  Why would this then be compared to prostitution?
3. In what ways could the wealth of our nation be seen as a hindrance to our spiritual growth?  In what ways has our wealth been a blessing?  Is it the money that makes things bad or good, or the condition of our hearts when we possess it and use it?

Today’s passage: Isaiah 22

Helpful thoughts:

• “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die” has been used often to justify living in the moment…sort of a “You only live once” kind of statement.  However, in this context, it is used to describe an open act of rebellion and indifference to God.  The people chose, even in their last days before judgment, to refuse repentance.
• The rebuke of Shebna (Vs. 15-25) serves as an individual example of what Judah, as a nation, was living like as a whole.
  •  Shebna was serving over the household of David, and was preparing to make a monument to himself while the household he was overseeing was about to be destroyed.
• God gave Judah several reasons and prophecies to encourage them to trust in Him and not their human alliances or power to save them.  They chose to ignore them.

Questions to consider:

1. Why does the life philosophy of living in the moment and considering death as the end ring hollow for the Christian?  How should the reality of eternal life affect how you think about today?
2. What is the motivation of a leader if his desire is to build a monument to himself?  How is leadership far different than awards and praise?