This week we are focusing on Isaiah 34-35. The following are some study suggestions to help you get started.
LIMITED TIME:
- Read through Isaiah 34-35.
- Meditate on and/or journal the answers to the following questions.
- What does this passage teach me about God and His character?
- How does this aspect of God’s character change my view of myself?
- What should I do in response?
MORE TIME:
Ray Ortlund poses a thought provoking question in his book, Isaiah: God Saves Sinners. “What are you becoming?” He goes on to say that “whatever you are becoming reveals where you are going (p.196). As you study Isaiah 34 & 35, you will see that there are two very different eternal destinations for two different types of people.
- Read Isaiah 34.
- What do you observe about God and his final judgement of evil? What aspects of God’s creation are affected?
- Isaiah speaks about the ‘day of vengeance’ (v. 8) again in Isaiah 61:2b. Jesus later quotes Is. 61:1-2a (see Luke 4:18-19). What do you learn from these cross references?
- The concept of vengeance and recompence are found throughout scripture. What do you learn about this final day of judgement from the following verses: Deut. 32:40-43; Ps. 94:1-2; Is. 59:17-20; 2 Thes. 1:6-10 and Rev. 22:12?
- Read Isaiah 35. Soak in this chapter!
- What do you observe about what the world (Zion) will be like after the curse of Gen. 3:17-19 is reversed?
- How does Isaiah describe those who are heading for Zion?
- What do the following scriptures add to your understanding of this chapter? (Is. 40:3-5; Matt. 3:1-3; 2 Cor. 4:6)
- So, who are you becoming, and where are you going?
GOING DEEPER (optional): For further teaching and application, do one or more of the following:
- Read chapter 22, “The Two Final Outcomes (34-35)” in Isaiah: God Saves Sinners or listen to Ray Ortlund’s sermon series on line. (Most of the sermons correspond to the chapters in his book.)
- Listen to the sermon(s) from Pastor Liam Goligher’s sermon series on Isaiah that go along with this week’s reading.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. …~John 3:16~