Isaiah 11:1-10

Summer Reading 4:The Major Prophets

While we often think of prophecy as foretelling the future—and that is certainly a valid understanding—the prophets were actually far more concerned with calling their contemporaries back to their faithful covenant relationship with God than they

were with predicting the future.

Those who act as prophetsmay expect a prophet’s reward.

The Main Themes of the Prophetic Books

1. The prophets firmly asserted that God was speaking through them.

2. The prophets repeatedly affirmed that God had chosen Israel for covenant relationship.

3. The prophets sadly reported that the majority of Israel had sinned against God and that special covenant relationship.

4. The prophets passionately warned of God’s purifying judgment.5. The prophets consistently promised that God would bring

renewal and Hope on the other side of judgment.

ISAIAH: Prophet in Judah

• The last years before the fall of the northern kingdom of Israel in 722 B.C.•Rebellion, Repentance, Restoration•More Messianic prophecies than any other book• Tradition holds that he was martyred.

In the tables that follow for each book,the first table is from

The Life Application Bible (Tyndale, 1996) and the second table is from

Bruce Wilkinson, Your Daily Walk(Zondervan, 1991).

ISAIAH

AUTHOR The prophet Isaiah, son of Amoz

WHAT Prophesies of Judgment, Exile, and Restoration

WHERE Jerusalem

WHEN c. 700-681 B.C.

WHYTo call the nation of Judah back to God

and to tell of God’s salvation through the Messiah

KEY PEOPLE

Isaiah and his two sons, Shear-jashub and Maher-shalal-hash-baz

FOCUS JUDGMENT TRANSITION HOPE

DIVISIONS 1-12 Judgment is Coming for Judah13-27 Judgment is Coming

for Judah’s Neighbors28-35 Judgment is Coming

on All the Earth

36-39 Interlude:

Assyria at the Gates of

Jerusalem

40-48 Comfort and Peace are Coming

49-57 Prince of Peace is Coming58-66 Restoration of God’s People

is Coming

TOPICS

Condemnation (1:4) Consolation (40:1)

Sinful Servant (Judah) Suffering Servant (Christ)

PLACE Judah and Her Neighbors Israel and the World

TIME About 40 Years (722-681 B.C.) Thousands of Years

ISAI

AH

Isaiah 1–39 Isaiah 40–55 Isaiah 56–66

Date and Setting The eighth century b.c. (700s); the Assyrian threat

Prophecies about the sixth century b.c. (500s); the Babylonian exile

Prophecies about all times and occasions until the end

Audience God’s rebellious people craving worldly security

God’s defeated people under worldly domination

All who hold fast to God’s covenant

ActionsGod purifies a remnant of his apostate people through judgment

God consoles his discouraged people in exile

God prepares all of his true people for his promised salvation

Message“In returning and rest you shall be saved; … But you were unwilling” (30:15)

“the glory of the Lord shall be revealed” (40:5)

“Keep justice, and do righteousness” (56:1)

Simplified Overview of Isaiah

Isaiah’s Servant Songs

• Song #1: 42:1-4• Song #2: 49:1-6• Song #3: 50:4-9• Song #4: 52:13-53:12

“the record of the vision concerning Judah and Jerusalem that Isaiah son of Amoz saw during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah” (Isaiah 1:1).

Rebellion, Repentance, Restoration

•Woe to the sinful nation, a people whose guilt is great, a brood of evildoers, children given to corruption! They have forsaken the LORD; they have spurned the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on him (1:4).

Rebellion, Repentance, Restoration

• “Come now, let us settle the matter,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool” (1:18).

Rebellion, Repentance, Restoration

• In the last days the mountain of the LORD’s temple will be established as the highest of the mountains; it will be exalted above the hills, and all nations will stream to it (2:2).

Isaiah’s Most Famous Prophecy

• Isaiah 7:14 14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.

The Shoot from the Stump of Jesse

• Isaiah 11:1-2• 1 A shoot will come up from the stump

of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. 2 The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him— the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the LORD.

One of Isaiah’s Best-Loved Promises

• Isaiah 40:27-31 27 Why do you complain, Jacob? Why do you say, Israel, “My way is hidden from the LORD; my cause is disregarded by my God”? 28 Do 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. 29 He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. 30 Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; 31 but 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.

The first Servant Song

• Isaiah 42:1-4 • 1 “Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in

whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him, and he will bring justice to the nations. 2 He will not shout or cry out, or raise his voice in the streets. 3 A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out. In faithfulness he will bring forth justice; 4 he will not falter or be discouraged till he establishes justice on earth. In his teaching the islands will put their hope.”

What Righteous Living looks like:

• Isaiah 58:6-9 • 6 “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of

injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? 7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter— when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? 8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard. 9 Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.

JEREMIAH: The End of Judah

• Jeremiah had a very difficult life.•His hometown tried to kill him.•Only two people ever listened to him.• “The Weeping Prophet”• “The Persevering Prophet”• “Jeremiad”

JEREMIAHAUTHOR Jeremiah

WHAT The record of God’s forty-year effort to call Judah to repentance

through Jeremiah

WHERE Anathoth, Jerusalem, Ramah, Egypt

WHEN c. 627-586 B.C.

WHYTo urge God’s people to turn from their sins and back to God

KEY PEOPLE

Jeremiah, Josiah, Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, ZedekiahBaruch, Ebed-Melech, Nebuchadnezzar, the Recabites

FOCUS Prophecies to Jews Prophecies to Gentiles

DIVISIONS 1 Call of Jeremiah

2-25Condemnation

of Judah

26-29 Conflicts of Jeremiah

30-33 Consolation from Jeremiah

34-45 Consistency of Jeremiah

46-51 Condemnation of 9 Countries

52 Consummation of Jerusalem’s Judgment

TOPICS

Ministry Message Misery Vengeance Vindication

Jeremiah’s Sermons Jeremiah’s Sorrows

PLACE Judah Babylonia

TIME About 40 Years

JERE

MIA

H

Jeremiah 2:13

• 13 “My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.

The Weeping Prophet

• Jeremiah 4:19 19 Oh, my anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain. Oh, the agony of my heart! My heart pounds within me, I cannot keep silent. For I have heard the sound of the trumpet; I have heard the battle cry.

• Jeremiah 8:20-9:1 20 “The harvest is past, the summer has ended, and we are not saved.” 21 Since my people are crushed, I am crushed; I mourn, and horror grips me. 22 Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then is there no healing for the wound of my people? 1 Oh, that my head were a spring of water and my eyes a fountain of tears! I would weep day and night for the slain of my people.

Approved Boasting & Circumcised Hearts

• Jeremiah 9:23-26 23 This is what the LORD says: “Let not the wise boast of their wisdom or the strong boast of their strength or the rich boast of their riches, 24 but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,” declares the LORD. 25 “The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will punish all who are circumcised only in the flesh— 26 Egypt, Judah, Edom, Ammon, Moab and all who live in the wilderness in distant places. For all these nations are really uncircumcised, and even the whole house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart.”

Jeremiah 31:31-32

31 “The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah. 32 It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them,” declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 31:33-34

• 33 “This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,” declares the LORD. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 34 No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the LORD,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the LORD. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”

Jeremiah 31:33-34

• 33 “This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,” declares the LORD. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 34 No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the LORD,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the LORD. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”

LAMENTATIONS

• Laments, melancholy dirges at the destruction of Jerusalem in 587 B.C.•Acrostic elegies or funeral orations “from A to Z”

LAMENTATIONS

AUTHOR Jeremiah

WHAT A “Jeremiad,” or Jewish Funeral Song or Chant;

the five chapters are acrostic poems

WHERE Jerusalem, after its destruction

WHEN c. 586 B.C.

WHYTo teach people that to disobey God is to invite disaster,

and to show that God suffers when His people suffer

KEY PEOPLE

Jeremiah & the People of Jerusalem

FOCUS God’s Chastening & Control God’s Character

DIVISIONS1:1-1:22

Destroyed City2:1-2:22Crushed

Population

3:1-3:66 Lamenting

Prophet4:1-4:22 Lost Glory

5:1-5:22 Repentant Kingdom

TOPICS The Sorrow The Reason The Hope The Contrast The Plea

PLACE Jerusalem

TIME c. 586 B.C.

LAM

ENTA

TIO

NS

Dirges & Laments

• Lamentations 1:12 12 “Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look around and see. Is any suffering like my suffering that was inflicted on me, that the LORD brought on me in the day of his fierce anger?

• Lamentations 2:1111 My eyes fail from weeping, I am in torment within; my heart is poured out on the ground because my people are destroyed . . . .

Hope beyond Despair

• Lamentations 3:21-26 • 21 Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: 22 Because of the

LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. 23

They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. 24 I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.” 25 The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; 26 it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD. • Lamentations 3:31-32 • 31 For no one is cast off by the Lord forever. 32 Though he brings grief, he

will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love.

EZEKIEL: Prophet in Babylon

EZEKIEL

AUTHOR Ezekiel, son of Buzi, a Zadokite priest

WHAT Messages to the Exiles in Babylon and to God’s People Everywhere

WHERE Babylon

WHEN c. 571 B.C.

WHYTo announce God’s judgment on Israel and other nations

and to foretell the eventual salvation of God’s people

KEY PEOPLE

Ezekiel, Israel’s leaders, Ezekiel’s wife, Nebuchadnezzar, “the prince”

EZEK

IEL

FOCUS Judah’s Fall Judah’s Foes Judah’s Future

DIVISIONS1-3 Vision and Call

4-6 Signs and Sermons7-11 Departing Glory

12-24 Parables of Judgment

25-28 Judgment on Enemies

29-32 Judgment on Egypt

33-39 New Life for Israel

40-48 New Temple for Israel

TOPICS

Before the Siege (592-587 B.C.) During the Siege (586) After the Siege (586-570)

Condemnation Consolation

PLACE Babylon

TIME About 22 Years (592-570 B.C.)

Ezekiel’s Initial Vision

• Ezekiel 1:4-9 4 I looked, and I saw a windstorm coming out of the north—an immense cloud with flashing lightning and surrounded by brilliant light. The center of the fire looked like glowing metal, 5 and in the fire was what looked like four living creatures. In appearance their form was human, 6 but each of them had four faces and four wings. 7 Their legs were straight; their feet were like those of a calf and gleamed like burnished bronze. 8 Under their wings on their four sides they had human hands. All four of them had faces and wings, 9 and the wings of one touched the wings of another. Each one went straight ahead; they did not turn as they moved.

“Ezekiel saw the wheel”

The Valley of Dry Bones

• Ezekiel 37:1-3 1 The hand of the LORD was on me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. 2 He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. 3 He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” I said, “Sovereign LORD, you alone know.”

“Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones”

Return to Me!

• Ezekiel 22:30 30 “I looked for someone among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found no one.

• Ezekiel 33:11 11 Say to them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, people of Israel?’

DANIEL: Advisor to the King

• In the Center of Imperial Power• “the Daniel Diet”•Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream• The Fiery Furnace• The Handwriting on the Wall• The Den of Lions•GOD’S SOVEREIGNTY OVER ALL THE EARTH

DANIEL

AUTHOR Daniel

WHAT Hero Stories and Apocalyptic Visions

WHERE Nebuchadnezzar’s palace, the Blazing Furnace,

Belshazzar’s Feast, the Lion’s Den

WHEN c. 535 B.C.

WHYTo give a historical account of the faithful Jews who lived in captivity

and to show how God is in control of heaven and earth, directing the forces of nature, the destiny of nations, and the care of His people.

KEY PEOPLE

Daniel, Nebuchadnezzar, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, Belshazzar, Darius

DAN

IEL

FOCUS Nebuchadnezzar’s Dreams Daniel’s Dreams

DIVISIONS 1-3 Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream of the Statue

4-6 Daniel in the Lion’s Den

7-9 Daniel’s Vision of the Beasts

10-12 Daniel’s Vision of the Man

TOPICS

Personal Adventure Prophetic Visions

Concerning Gentiles Concerning Jews

PLACE Babylonia/Persia

TIME About 70 Years (605-536 B.C.)

The Daniel Diet

•Daniel 1:15-17 15 At the end of the ten days they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food. 16 So the guard took away their choice food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables instead. 17 To these four young men God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. And Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds.

The Fiery Furnace

•Daniel 3:16-18 16 Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to him, “King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. 17 If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. 18 But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.”

Prelude to the Lion’s Den

•Daniel 6:10 10 Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before.

Daniel’s Visions

Daniel 7:9-14

• 9 “As I looked, “thrones were set in place, and the Ancient of Days took his seat. His clothing was as white as snow; the hair of his head was white like wool. His throne was flaming with fire, and its wheels were all ablaze. 10 A river of fire was flowing, coming out from before him. Thousands upon thousands attended him; ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. The court was seated, and the books were opened. 11 “Then I continued to watch because of the boastful words the horn was speaking. I kept looking until the beast was slain and its body destroyed and thrown into the blazing fire. 12 (The other beasts had been stripped of their authority, but were allowed to live for a period of time.)

Daniel 7:9-14

• 13 “In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven.

He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. 14 He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped

him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one

that will never be destroyed.

The Major Prophets in Review

ISAIAH JEREMIAH LAMENTATIONS EZEKIEL DANIEL

Warnings of Exile Tears in Exile Visions in Exile

A Nation Divided A Nation Deported

God’s Patience with His Rebellious People God’s Program for His Regathered People

Horror Hope

“Groan & Glory” “Rotten Sash” “Tears” “Dry Bones” “Dreams”

Our Desperate Need

• Isaiah 59:1-2 1 Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. 2 But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear. • Isaiah 64:6 6 All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.

Invitation to Repentance

• Isaiah 1:18 18 “Come now, let us settle the matter,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.

HOPE is Born

• Isaiah 9:6-7 6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.

The Way Home

• Isaiah 53:4-6 4 Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. 6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Grace Greater than Our Sin#344

Marvelous grace of our loving Lord,grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt,yonder on Calvary’s Mount out poured,

there where the blood of the Lamb was spilt.

Grace, grace, God’s grace, grace that will pardon and cleanse within!

Grace, grace, God’s grace,grace that is greater than all our sin.

Sin and despair, like the sea waves cold,threaten the soul with infinite loss;

grace that is greater, yes, grace untold,points to the refuge, the mighty cross.

Grace, grace, God’s grace, grace that will pardon and cleanse within!

Grace, grace, God’s grace,grace that is greater than all our sin.

Dark is the stain that we cannot hide--what can avail to wash it away?

Look! There is flowing a crimson tide;whiter than snow you may be today.

Grace, grace, God’s grace, grace that will pardon and cleanse within!

Grace, grace, God’s grace,grace that is greater than all our sin.

Marvelous, infinite, matchless grace,freely bestowed on all who believe!You that are longing to see His face,

will you this moment His grace receive?

Grace, grace, God’s grace, grace that will pardon and cleanse within!

Grace, grace, God’s grace,grace that is greater than all our sin.