This Christmas season, have you had time to reflect on what we’re really celebrating? In this passage, we will how Isaiah also foretells and speaks of the message of Christmas — what the gospel is, who it is about and who it is for.
Today, if you feel like this world and what you’re feeling is full of loneliness, mourning and captivity, and you feel like this world is spiralling out of control and you’re weary, you are in good company. Isaiah has something to say to us of the story of the Bible, the Saviour of the Bible and the saved of the Bible.
We come to the end of the year and there are different things that get released online at this time of the year— Spotify wrapped summarises the songs and artists we’ve been listening to, the “Word of the Year” . The Merriam-Webster dictionary picked “authentic” as their word of the year. We live in a time when many are thinking of their authentic self and what it means to be human, especially when AI has been picking up steam. Perhaps as Christians too, we are left thinking about what really is authentic Christian joy, peace, comfort?
Isaiah 51 brings us words that help us differentiate and define what authentic Christian comfort is, especially in a world that peddles its version of comfort.
This is the first study in the season of Advent. The Latin word for Advent, “Adventus” means “coming”. Advent is the season where we as Christians prepare ourselves for Christmas, which celebrates the coming of the Servant, the Messiah King, the Promised Christ; and not only that but also in eager anticipation for Christ’s second coming.
When the promises seem faint and far away, how can we wait faithfully? Our text for today brings us to the third of the four Servant Songs, and offers us wisdom for this task.
The past year on both the international and local front is turbulent. We read of war and murders. We are in a period of economic uncertainties. The year can feel like there has been a lot of turmoil. It can be difficult to find joy and hope. Joy and hope is being spoken of around Christmas, but it can be hard.
Passages like the one we have in Isaiah 49, pull us out of our worries and tether our joy to something that can never be lost and can never die.
Our series thus far has challenged us to have a big and high view of God. This chunk of Isaiah takes a microscope to who God is -- how He is full of grace, full of glory, how He is our Lord, how He is our saviour, how He is sovereign, how He is our good and holy God. We’ve been challenged personally — if God is who He says He is, and if we believe that this God is real and good and true - how will we live our lives differently?
In this chapter, we consider the simple question “Who is our Messiah, and what has been promised?” With everything we have learned about who God is, our study tonight puts all of that together in one promised servant. One commentator said of this chapter - “This chapter is full of our Lord Jesus Christ” - and that’s who we will be looking at.
How would you describe God? Do you have a high view of God? The Bible speaks of God as a living God.
In Jeremiah 9:23-24, we read that our joy, delight, satisfaction and glory should not be in the good gifts God gives us, but that we know Him for the worth of His very being.
Isaiah was written for us to have a high view of God. The book shows us that God is not a paltry deity. He is the God of nations, of glory and of redemption. Today’s text will show us 4 aspects of knowing God.
What do you think of when you think of God? How would you describe Him? These verses in Isaiah 48 show us how God has revealed Himself to His people and teaches us to think about God rightly.
This is a passage that is full of sarcasm. How are we to understand it? It’s like a splash of cold water to wake us up. What kind of stupor is this cold water meant to wake us up from? What cold water splash do you need today?
Do you know how to save a drowning man? How do you save someone who is drowning and struggling? This is the state of the Israel that we are confront with tonight. This Israel that we read of in Isaiah 46 is very much a drowning man. They have been conquered and had no hope of rescue. Yet, they were still struggling to stay alive. Tonight’s text will show us what it takes to save such a drowning man.
We all live and build our lives on certain foundational truths. Jesus Himself picked up on this at the end of the Sermon on the Mount (Matt 7:24-27). Only time will tell what kind of foundations we build our lives on. This passage in Isaiah forces us to think about who or what we build our lives on.
Are we getting worse at dealing with instability in the world? Are we less able to deal with personal setback and struggle? Are you tempted to fear, have anxiety, and be paralysed by events in your life? What do you do when you face uncertainty? Do you trust in a God who is sovereign?
Christians should have the greatest resistance to global crises, generational changes and personal temptations. We are the people that claim to know a God who is both good and sovereign. We claim that we love Him and are confident in who we are, because of how He loves us. We should have a huge reserve of spiritual resources that we can tap on in times of crises.
Plans are important not just for us individually, but also when we think about nations. In Singapore, we have a National Day Rally, an annual event that’s always important because of the plans that are introduced. But, apart from the plans, the person is also just as important. The plans being revealed are important, because of the person who is behind the plans. In Isaiah 44, we see a God who speaks to a people in exile. He has a plan for this people, despite their circumstances.
Monotheism is the doctrine that there is only one God. This study is not one on religious worldviews. Rather we’re going to hone in on something within our Christian faith that’s probably a bit more familiar to us —idolatry. If you’ve been a Christian for a while, you would be well acquainted with idolatry and maybe even your own struggles with it.
This passage looks at a key claim that God Himself makes — “I am God, and there is none beside me, there is none like me”. Alongside this Isaiah unpacks for us just how absurd it is for us to think otherwise and to do otherwise.
How would you introduce God the Holy Spirit to your non-Christian friend? What will you say we are expected to know of Him and to interact with Him?
We may have come to understand God’s Spirit as part of a formula and may not realise how God has introduced Himself. In this text, we see that God has poured out His Spirit on His people.
The word “self-disclosure” is an important technical word that we don’t usually use, but we should get used to. The idea behind self-disclosure is that God takes the initiative and provides the means by which we know Him. God is the object that disclose the subject — Himself — to us.
In Isaiah 43, God is directly speaking to His people. But before we look at the content, remember that God is disclosing Himself by His direct speech. For Christians, self-disclosure is the key mechanism by which we know God. If God did not reveal Himself, we do not know Him.
What is the kind of God being revealed? How do we know? As we read Isaiah 43, let us compare what we know of God with how God has revealed Himself to us through the pages of Scripture. Here, God’s self-disclosure has something to do with His work in salvation (c.f Isa 43:3).
In the previous study, we opened by thinking about the idea of theology. Who God is in our minds is important and it is also important to think about how we know these things about God.
Today, we are exploring a related theme — who are you in God’s mind? What would you fill in at the end of this statement: “When God thinks of me, He thinks ______”. What do you think God thinks about you? How do you know? How does this change when we go through difficulties?
What comes to your mind when you think about what God is like? Where do these come from and do they really come from the Bible? Where did we learn that God is all loving?
We are all theologians. Each one of us have an idea of who God is and what He is like. Before we get into our text, think: What are those texts and influences in your life? Where did you acquire your theology?
The word for “behold” begins and ends the section that we read here. This text shows us what God wants us to lift our eyes from, and turn towards. To behold and to look, is to fix our eyes on what God calls us to do.
In this passage, God gives a message of assurance to His people in exile. We will see how the Sovereign Lord is the One who helps His people. Therefore, we can trust in Him who helps, and turn not to idols that know and do nothing.