Promise - Isaiah

Icebreaker

Can you remember something that someone promised you and then happened?

Can you remember something that you got promised and never happened?

If you heard one of the sermons on Sunday, what struck you from it?

Study

When we look into this passage in Isaiah we need to look at the context as well, this will help us have a deeper understanding of this promise. Isaiah 9:1 talks about the distress in the land of Zebulon and Naphtali, Isaiah is talking about the captivity in the hands of the king of Assyria (we find these events on 2 Kings 15). The land of Zebulon and Naphtali was afterwards known as Upper and Lower Galilee. In other words, when verse one says the land of Zebulun and Naphtali, then mentions Galilee, it is talking about the exact same land. A land that is going through hardship, but will be blessed by having Jesus doing most of his work there and being the first to get to know Him.

Please read Isaiah 8:19-22

Isaiah 9 is definitely and extension of Isaiah 8 and many people argue that the breaking the chapter this way was a bad choice. So it’s good to look at the context of our passage.

Q1 – What issue is Isaiah addressing? What where they doing wrong?

Q2 – They were putting their trust in what mediums and spiritists had to say instead of God. In what ways do we act in a similar way?

Q3 – What effect did their actions have on their thinking and living?

Please read Isaiah 9:1-7

Q4 – Galilee (Zebulun and Naphtali) weren’t the centre of their civilization. What does that already start to say about who this Messiah would be?

Last week we look at the Hope we have in God. The focus was on understanding that God is a trustworthy God and good for his word. That we can trust his promises, that we can trust him. The Messiah we find in Jesus actually was different to what they thought they had been promised and therefore they found it hard to understand Him.

Q5- What ‘promises’ have you heard in Christian circles that you think God hasn’t actually promised for everyone? (e.g. prosperity gospel)

Q6 - Looking at verse two, what promise can you infer from this verse?

Q7 – Looking at verses three to five, what promises can you infer from these verses?

Q8 - Looking at verses six and seven, what promises can you infer from these verses?

In theology we talk about the ‘now but not yet’, meaning that some of God’s promises are partially fulfilled now but are completed in the future. For example we say that we know God now, but we will know him fully when we see Him in Heaven or we receive God’s peace now, but we will have complete peace in that eternal future.

Q9 – Which of these promises do you feel fall into the ‘now but not yet’ category?

Q10 – After looking at all of these promises and characteristics of how Jesus is and knowing that God is good for his word. What has he promised? What can we be confident in?

Prayer

Spend some time praying together for those things that you believe God has promised us. He didn’t promise an easy life or that there would be no darkness in it. He promised to be with us (Emmanuel), he promises to give us peace, he promised to guide us, to be light in the darkness and we can trust that He does what he promised he would do.