isaiah IS AIAH 9 : 1-7 ; 1 1 : ; 52 : : 1 2 IS AIAH 53 : 1 1 b God s Kingdom Through the Suffering Servant

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1 LESSON 10 isaiah God s Kingdom Through the Suffering Servant To understand that God spoke through Isaiah to tell of the coming Suffering Servant who would usher in God s kingdom of peace, and that the New Testament testifies this figure was fulfilled in the Messiah, Jesus Christ. Isaiah contrasts the unimaginable wonders of the messianic kingdom with the unexpected means by which God s kingdom will come through the Suffering Servant God s beloved Son, Jesus. That students understand God promised His Suffering Servant Jesus would deliver His people from sin and usher in His kingdom of peace with His substitutionary sacrifice, and that students experience peace with God. Background Passage: scripture Passage: Memory Verse: ISAIAH 52 : : 1 2 IS AIAH 53 : 1 1 b The Servant will be highly exalted. The Suffering Servant was despised and rejected by men. The Lord has laid on the Suffering Servant our iniquities. The Suffering Servant was silent before those who killed Him and died an unjust death. The death of the Suffering Servant serves as a substitutionary sacrifice on behalf of the rebellious and sinful. My righteous Servant will IS AIAH 9 : 1-7 ; 1 1 : ; 52 : : 1 2 page 76 isaiah justify many, and He will carry their iniquities.

2 PREPARING TO TEACH Sadly, the people s declaration to Elijah that Yahweh is God in I Kings 18 was mostly lip-service. The Northern Kingdom continued its idolatrous path, ignoring God s warnings, until God sent the Assyrians as instruments of His righteous judgment. The kingdom of Israel fell to Assyria in 722 B.C. Its inhabitants were carried away. Although the Southern Kingdom of Judah was not as idolatrous as Israel, they were not exclusively devoted to God either. They had a few good kings, like Josiah, who instituted religious reform, kings such as Uzziah who started off devoted to God but went astray, and evil kings like Ahaz who completely abandoned the Lord. God called Isaiah to warn Judah about the coming Babylonian captivity because of their unfaithfulness, and to promise eventual deliverance through God s righteous Servant. Study Lesson 10 in your Venture In Travelogue. Read the background passages of Isaiah 9:1-7 and 11:1-11 and list descriptions of the messianic kingdom. Read the focal passage of Isaiah 52:13-53:12, noting descriptions of God s Servant and listing questions you have about the passage. Read the passage in several different translations (see to gain answers to your questions. This teaching plan follows a different format than previous plans. You have the option of following the Travelogue format as usual, or following the teaching plan that focuses more extensively on the focal passage of Isaiah 52:13-53:12. You may want to print out this passage or provide additional Bibles for participants who don t bring a Bible to the session. Slowly read Isaiah 53:4-5, inserting I and my for we and our. Spend time in personal repentance and worship. Pray learners will begin to grasp the enormity of the sacrifice Jesus made on their behalf and choose to commit to Him and experience peace with God. A PEACE THAT SURPASSES ALL UNDERSTANDING Greet adults as they arrive and encourage them to converse with one another about places they experience the greatest sense of peace. page 7 7 isaiah

3 Open with prayer, then invite volunteers to share places of great peace. Encourage adults to define peace. Declare: The peace of God passes all understanding because it is more than an absence of conflict. It is a shalom peace. Guide the class to explore the meaning of the Hebrew word shalom, directing them to the section headed The Peace of God Renewing All Things (Travelogue, p. 100). Note that Shalom is the way things ought to be Everyone and everything in God s creation emitting symphonic splendor to God s glory in work and play, worship and rest, art and relationships (Travelogue, p ). Ask: What marred the peace God intended for His creation? Declare the Bible is the unfolding story of God s sovereignly working to restore shalom to His fallen creation through the redeeming and restoring work of Jesus. ISAIAH PROPHESIES A PRINCE OF PEACE Remind adults from Lesson 9: God commissioned prophets to serve as a primary means for communicating His will and executing His reign over His people; and the prophets served us by proclaiming God s uncompromising holiness and His immeasurable grace (Travelogue, pp ). Isaiah is perhaps the best-known biblical prophet. Use the writer s remarks under Isaiah Tells the Story (Travelogue, p. 101) to describe how the Book of Isaiah is like a mini-bible. To help adults see Isaiah s place in God s Unfolding Story request they turn to the Timeline (Travelogue, p. 140). Explain Isaiah ministered primarily to the Southern Kingdom of Judah about 100 years after Elijah s ministry to the Northern Kingdom. Over his 50+ years of ministry, Isaiah saw Israel fall to Assyria in 722 B.C., and observed Assyria s power decrease while the power and threat of Babylon increased. It was definitely not a time of shalom peace. Yet God promised to send peace to this world of chaos. Read aloud Isaiah 9:2,6. Summarize the qualities of the peaceful messianic kingdom God promised, using the list you prepared from your study page 7 8 isaiah

4 of Isaiah 9:1-7 and 11:1-11 and remarks under The Promise of Peace and The Parameters of Peace (Travelogue, pp ). Read the Travelogue statement (p. 101): Of all of Israel s prophets, Isaiah draws the starkest contrast between the magnificent peace we will enjoy in the messianic kingdom and the shocking means by which the Messiah will gain this life of peace for us. Declare God promised to restore shalom through the Prince of Peace, a descendant of David who will reign for eternity. Jesus, the fulfillment of that promise, was not what Israel expected even though God clearly proclaimed through Isaiah that this Prince of Peace would also be a Suffering Servant. ISAIAH PROPHESIES THE PRICE OF PEACE Explain this lesson s focal passage, Isaiah 52:13-53:12, is the fourth of what are known as Servant Songs that: answer the questions: How will God redeem His ill-deserving people? How will His mercy, grace, and arm be revealed (Travelogue, p. 105)? Read the summaries of the four Servant Songs (Travelogue, p. 106). Explain Isaiah 52:13-15 is a summary of Isaiah 53. Invite someone to read Isaiah 52:13. Isaiah was about to describe some fairly graphic details of Jesus suffering. But before he did, God had him declare Jesus exaltation by His resurrection, ascension, and glorification. Ask: Why must we always keep Jesus victory in mind when we explore His suffering? (Just as glory was the end result of Jesus suffering, believers can be assured the end result of any suffering we endure in following Jesus in discipleship will result in glory to God and shalom peace for us.) Request adults silently read Isaiah 52:14 and state how severe Jesus suffering would be. Isaiah declared it would be almost unbelievable that God s powerful saving work would be revealed through the severe suffering of His Servant. Invite a volunteer to read Isaiah 53:1-3. Point out a young plant growing out of dry ground would be withered. Ask: What do people do with withered plants? How does that illustrate what many people did and do with Jesus? page 7 9 isaiah

5 Yet the Song goes on to say no one should reject this Servant because of the reason and result of His suffering. Ask a volunteer to read Isaiah 53:4-6. Request the class identify the reason for Jesus suffering. Point out many felt Jesus was stricken by God because of His own failures, but He suffered because He took on Himself humanity s sin-sickness and its devastating consequences. Ask adults to identify the result of Jesus suffering. Declare Jesus suffered so we could experience shalom. ISAIAH PROPHESIES THE PROCESS FOR PEACE Explain the theological term imputation conveys what Jesus suffering accomplished. To impute means to: 1. lay responsibility or blame, and 2. to credit to a person. 1 Ask: What responsibility and blame did God lay on Jesus? What does He credit to all people who trust in Jesus? Read the Travelogue statement (p. 107): God imputed our sin to Jesus that He might impute Jesus righteousness to us. Jesus willingly took the punishment we deserve that we might freely receive the righteousness we could never earn. Invite someone to read Isaiah 53:7-9. Determine what verse 7 reveals about Jesus response to His suffering. Explain another theological term for Jesus work on the cross is substitutionary atonement. He voluntarily offered Himself as a substitute to take on the wrath of God we deserve. Ask: Why would He do that? What do these verses whisper, or perhaps shout, to you about Jesus? Evaluate how these words written 700 years before Jesus death were perfectly fulfilled. Ask someone to read Matthew 27:11-14, Invite a volunteer to read Isaiah 53: Ask what questions or concerns these verses raise. Explain it pleased God to crush His Son because of what His suffering and death would accomplish: 1. It would justify many. Read Isaiah 53:11b. Point out it is the memory verse for this lesson. Explain Jesus death satisfies the penalty for sin by offering restitution and brings reconciliation with God for all who receive His sacrifice in faith. It pleased God for page 8 0 isaiah

6 Jesus to suffer because through that suffering God s perfect plan of restoring shalom to His creation was accomplished. 2. It fulfilled His promises to Abraham. Ask: How do we see God working out His promises to Abraham in these verses? Point out verse 10 says He will see His seed. Ask: Who are those descendants that seed? Who did Jesus see as He hung in anguish on the cross? Declare He saw us and people from every nation who believe in Him. Point out He will sprinkle many nations (Isa. 52:15). Declare sprinkling with blood, oil, or water in the Old Testament signified cleansing. 3. He could reward His Son extravagantly. Evaluate how God would reward Jesus: With us we are the reason and reward for His suffering. With life Jesus suffering at the crucifixion was not the end. His death gave way to His resurrection! With the exaltation He deserves. One day every person, including all who did not respect or recognize Christ, will be silenced, stunned at the sight of Him (Isa. 52:13). Every knee will bow and every tongue confess Jesus Christ is Lord (Phil. 2:10-11). CONCLUSION Review the last phrase of Isaiah 53:3 in several different translations. Analyze why that statement is so sobering. Declare: We re all on a journey of peace or of conflict, depending on whether we value Jesus and His sacrifice on our behalf. Ask: How can we demonstrate we value Jesus and His work on the cross? Indicate we show we value Jesus as the Prince of Peace when we commit to live in His kingdom under His rule. That puts us in a position for God to transform us so Jesus personality and deeds naturally flow out of us where we live, work, and play. That brings glory to God and allows us to experience His shalom the way things ought to be (Travelogue, p. 100). Pray class participants will allow the peace of Christ to rule in their hearts (Col. 3:15) and be so transformed they reflect God s glory where they live, work, and play. page 8 1 isaiah

7 FOLLOW THROUGH It may have been obvious during the class that some adults have questions about how to have peace with God and experience His full shalom peace. Make plans to meet with them soon to explore their questions and explain how they can commit their lives to Christ. or text the memory verse to learners. Encourage them to meditate and memorize on that grand truth. 1 page 8 2 isaiah