Isaiah
The Eighth Century BC was a very good century for poets! In Greece, we have Homer. In Israel, we have Isaiah. We are in for quite a spiritual adventure in our upcoming Bible study of Isaiah. That will be Tuesday evenings, in both the Martin Luther Room and via Zoom.
Over the years, one of my favorite Bible studies was our study of the Psalms. I bet it took us four years. There are one hundred and fifty Psalms. If we did one per week, that would take almost three years. But some of the Psalms are so long, that we divided them over various sessions. Add in some times of recess for Christmas and summer break, and yes, I figure it took us going on four years to study the Psalms. They were good years.
Isaiah is a long book too: sixty-six chapters. And much of it is poetry. It is powerful language. Let me lift up just a few great passages spread throughout the book. In Chapter 1, we read this:
18”Come now, let us reason together,
says the Lord:
though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red like crimson,
they shall become like wool. (Isaiah 1:18, RSV)
In Chapter 7, we find a passage we love to read at Christmas time:
Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14, KJV)
In Chapter 11, we read of the peaceable kingdom:
6The wolf shall dwell with the lamb,
and the leopard shall lie down with the kid,
and the calf and the lion and the fatling together,
and a little child shall lead them.
7The cow and the bear shall feed;
their young shall lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. (Isaiah 11:6-7, RSV)
In Chapter 40, we find a passage that puts many of us in mind of Handel’s Messiah:
1Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.
2Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the LORD’s hand double for all her sins. (Isaiah 40:1-2, KJV)
And in Isaiah 53, we find a passage that puts us in mind of Holy Week. In fact, Martin Luther felt that no one has better expressed Christ’s passion and atonement won for us on the Cross than Isaiah 53:
4Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
5But he was wounded for our transgressions,
he was bruised for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that made us whole,
and with his stripes we are healed.
6All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned every one to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:4-6, RSV)
Believe me: I have had to strictly discipline myself to not overwhelm you with beautiful passages from Isaiah. Our three-year Revised Common Lectionary is permeated with readings from Isaiah. You will find many familiar and moving passages as we work our way through Isaiah.
This will probably be my last Bible Study here at Immanuel. I hope you will join us whenever you can. If you have to miss sessions, that is okay. Join us for the next ones if possible.
We meet in the Martin Luther Room on Tuesday evenings, 6:30 – 7:15 p.m. I set the alarm on my phone to not much run over the 45 minutes. They are a good 45 minutes in the middle of the week.
Here is the Zoom information:
Topic: Bible Study: Isaiah
Time: 06:30 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada), every week on Tuesdays, except July and August
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85769680459?pwd=NDorMeqOoFKK6npEmtnzpqlZh4HyRA.1
Meeting ID: 857 6968 0459
Passcode: 153102
For more information, email Pastor Gregory Fryer: gpfryer@gmail.com.