Sermon Study Guides

Isaiah is the first of seventeen Old Testament books of prophecy. At its root, prophecy is a communication from God that gives us divine insight into past, present or future events. In Old Testament prophecy God pulls back the curtain to show what He is doing, what He is thinking, feeling, and planning.

Isaiah lived during tumultuous times. King Uzziah, who had had a long stable reign, had just died, leaving the nation exposed to sudden upheaval and uncertainty. God had prophesied 39 chapters’ worth of messages of judgment against Israel for their injustice, corruption, and idolatry. Israel was in deep trouble, and it felt as if God had abandoned them. At such times it would have been easy to lose hope.

You must fight to have hope in your life.Hope is one of the greatest gifts we have to offer to the world. Evenin the midst of chaos and turmoil, God through the prophet Isaiah brought good news for his people. “Comfort, comfort my people, says your God” (Isaiah 40:1). God is with his people, leading and guiding them. God was still in control; he still has a plan. Don’t give in to despair. There is still hope. True hope is founded on a deeper level than our circumstances.

Base your hope on God’s holiness.At a time when people were battling to hold on to hope, God pulled back the curtain.Isaiah looked up and saw the Lord, the true King, high and exalted, seated on a throne. Seraphim were calling to one another, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty, the whole earth is full of his glory” (Isaiah 6:1-3). Holiness is the only attribute of God in Scripture that is repeated like this. Repetition stresses importance.

God’s holiness points to both his supremacy and perfection. God is infinitely powerful and always does what is right. For Isaiah, seeing God seated on the throne of all of history was overwhelming and life-changing.

To be holy means to be ‘set apart’. When a human being is called holy, they are set apart for God’s specific purpose and set apart from sin.

Hope comes at a level deeper than your circumstances. Hope is looking to and waiting expectantly for God to move, anticipating that He will move in His way and His time, according to His infinite wisdom and power. The foundation for hope is the holiness of God.

With hope in the right place we find purpose and strength.

In the throne room of God Almighty (chapter 6), Isaiah did not feel strong. He had an overpowering awareness of his own sinfulness. So God addressed the root problem – sin. A seraph touched Isaiah’s mouth with a burning coal and said, “Your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”

Once his sin was dealt with, Isaiah heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” Suddenly Isaiah found renewed strength and called out, “Here am I. Send me!” And God commissioned him for his life’s mission. What transformation!

This transformation brings us to the final verses in Isaiah 40:29-31. ‘Youths’ and ‘young men’ represent human beings in their prime, who rely on their own strength and abilities. They will eventually lose steam, stumble and fall. But those who recognize their own weakness and inability will find renewed strength. This strength is supernatural, as symbolised by the eagle spreading its wings and effortlessly taking flight.

We’re called to be people of hope to the world around us. We have to base our hope in the holiness of God, because when our hope is in the right place, we’ll find purpose and strength.

Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus Christ, the source of hope.

IN - PURSUE RELATIONSHIP

Think of something you hoped for in the past. How was your experience?
What do you usually do when you get discouraged? Does it help?

UP - PURSUE GOD

Read Isaiah 40:1, 9, 11, 23-31. How do these verses describe God? What were God’s promises amidst their hopelessness?
Read Isaiah 6:1–8. What did Isaiah experience? How did this reveal his own condition? What transformation did he undergo? How can you relate to what Isaiah went through?

OUT - PURSUE MISSION

How can God’s holiness and His promise to strengthen and renew you inspire you in difficult times?  Share what you do or what you can do to fight feelings of hopelessness.
If someone in your group or someone you know is struggling to see hope, pray as a group for a living hope to rise up in them. Pray that we would be people of hope in our world.

Personal Reflection

In what area do you need to hold on to hope? What does hope look like in your life right now? Consider the statement: To hope is to hope in God. How can you foster a firm hope in God? Since good news is encouraging, share this with someone who also needs hope. Memorize Romans 15:13.

The Word (NIV)

Isaiah 6:1–8 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. ²Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. ³And they were calling to one another:

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory.”

⁴At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.

⁵“Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”

⁶Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. ⁷With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”

⁸Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”

And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”

Isaiah 40:1 Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.

Isaiah 40:9 You who bring good news to Zion, go up on a high mountain. You who bring good news to Jerusalem,  lift up your voice with a shout, lift it up, do not be afraid; say to the towns of Judah, “Here is your God!”

Isaiah 40:11 He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young.

Isaiah 40:23–31

²³He brings princes to naught and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing. ²⁴No sooner are they planted, no sooner are they sown, no sooner do they take root in the ground, than he blows on them and they wither, and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff. ²⁵“To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?” says the Holy One. ²⁶Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one and calls forth each of them by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.

²⁷Why do you complain, Jacob? Why do you say, Israel, “My way is hidden from the Lord; my cause is disregarded by my God”? ²⁸Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. ²⁹He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. ³⁰Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; ³¹but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.